Trae Young was perhaps the NBA’s best player over the first week of the 2019-20 season, but his breakout campaign may have just hit a major obstacle. 

The Atlanta Hawks star went down early in the second quarter after injuring his right ankle. He immediately limped to the locker room, and was almost instantly ruled out for the night with a right ankle sprain. 

Fortunately for the Hawks, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that Young’s X-Rays came back negative. That gives the organization optimism that this is not a serious injury. In addition, The Athletic’s Shams Charania noted that the Hawks are expected to be cautious with Young, and he could miss up to two weeks. That’s a decent amount of time, but would further indicate that this isn’t a longterm injury.

Following the game, Young spoke to the media about the injury, and said he feels good and hopes to be “day-to-day.”

Young’s full comments on the injury and how he’s feeling:

“For me I got it looked at, just trying to see what’s all wrong with it. Right now, I’ll be day-to-day. I feel good. See how tomorrow feels and go from there.”

“I was able to put weight on it walking back once I got closer to the locker room. But it’s definitely something that they want me to stay off it as much as possible right now.”

Young had been quite durable so far in his career, missing only one game last season. He did not miss a game in college either, and he has had a perfect bill of health this season. Given his lean frame, there had certainly been some concerns, though. This injury will no doubt draw comparisons to the ankle injuries sustained by Stephen Curry early in his career, as the two have often been compared early in Young’s career. 

The injury is a major blow to what had been an absolutely stellar start to the season for Young and the Hawks. He averaged 34 points and 9.0 assists per game through his team’s first three games while shooting an incredible 52 percent from behind the arc. That wasn’t going to be sustainable, but it was proof that last season’s hot run down the stretch was no fluke. Young appears to be an All-Star caliber player, and that had lifted Atlanta to new heights. 

The Hawks have missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, but they were one of the last two undefeated teams in the Eastern Conference this year. They lost a battle of the unbeaten teams in their matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday by only two points, proving that they could hang with the best teams that the NBA has to offer. If Young is forced to miss extended time, Atlanta’s playoff hopes would be in serious jeopardy. 

Further complicating matters is the fact that the Hawks do not have a traditional backup point guard. Evan Turner, a forward with ball-handling skills, has held the role so far this season, but is currently dealing with an Achilles injury. He did not play on Tuesday night against the Heat, and his status moving forward is unclear. 

Once Young went down on Tuesday night, the Hawks collapsed in the second and third quarters, and lost to the Heat, 112-97, to drop to 2-2. For the season, the Hawks are now plus-28 when Young is on the floor, and minus-24 when he sits. Given those splits, they figure to have a tough time for however long he remains out.