Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young has been having a pretty spectacular sophomore season. Entering Friday night’s matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, Young was averaging 29 points. 8.5 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game; All-Star-caliber numbers. Unfortunately, Young’s evening was cut short, as the sharp-shooting guard had to be helped off of the floor after suffering a right ankle sprain late in the second quarter of the contest between the Bucks and Hawks.
The injury occurred as Young was driving to the basket and appeared to step on the foot of Bucks guard George Hill. Young went down to the floor and immediately started gripping his ankle. He was helped off of the court by Kevin Huerter and John Collins. Atlanta ruled Young out for the remainder of the game.
After the game, Young told media members that he would not be traveling with the team to Chicago for their game against the Bulls on Saturday night. Instead, Young said that he would remain in Atlanta to receive treatment on the ankle.
“I rolled it pretty bad,” Young said. “It hurts pretty bad right now, but that’s to be expected. I’m getting treatment on it and iced it already.”
The full severity of Young’s injury isn’t known at this point, but the Hawks obviously don’t want to take any risks with their young star, especially considering the fact that he already missed a game earlier this season with a sprain of the same ankle. For what it’s worth, Young wasn’t really interested in comparing the two injuries.
“It was bad the first time, but the pain was bad this time, as well,” Young said. “It hurt really bad, especially when it happened, but I don’t really know a comparison.”
Despite having a relatively slight frame, Young has been pretty durable up to this point in his career. He played in 81 of 82 games for the Hawks as a rookie, and he had appeared in 30 of Atlanta’s 31 games so far this season, though he will now miss at least one more game. In Young’s absence, Huerter will likely step into the starting point guard spot, while DeAndre’ Bembry and Evan Turner could also see some increased tick.
