The Portland Trail Blazers need all the help they can get to support Damian Lillard as their star point guard tries to will them into the postseason picture. However, the Blazers enter familiar injury territory instead after Anfernee Simons went down with an ankle injury late in the third quarter of their 126-101 blowout loss against the Washington Wizards.
With the clock winding down in the third period, Simons rose up for a floater over the outstretched arms of Kyle Kuzma. Simons' right foot ended up landing right on Kuzma's heel. The 23-year old guard proceeded to twist his ankle frontward, falling down immediately as he held on fast to his aching ankle.
Anfernee Simons stayed on the ground for a few minutes as members of the Blazers medical staff tended to the injured guard. It became clear that Simons couldn't put any weight on his injured right foot, necessitating the help of Jusuf Nurkic and a Blazers staffer to help carry him towards the locker room.
Blazers guard Anfernee Simons needed to be helped off the floor after suffering what looked like a very painful ankle injury ššpic.twitter.com/KRH5QQbbDp
ā ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) February 15, 2023
Per Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report, head coach Chauncey Billups revealed that X-rays on Simons' ankle/foot after the game turned out negative, which rules out any bone fractures. Simons should go undergo further testing in the coming days for the Blazers to assess whether their prized guard would need to miss some time due to injury.
In 27 minutes of action before exiting the game against the Wizards for good, Anfernee Simons tallied 17 points and three dimes. A potential absence for Simons entails more offensive burden on the shoulders of Damian Lillard, who saw his 39-point, 10-rebound, and six-dime performance go to waste in a crushing defeat.
With how Anfernee Simons' injury looked, he may be in danger of missing the Three-Point Contest, a competition both he and his backcourt mate Damian Lillard were set to compete in.
One silver lining for the Blazers is that this contest against the Wizards was their final game before the All-Star break. The Blazers have nine days off before their next game against the Sacramento Kings on the road. The Blazers will be hoping that Simons' ankle injury isn't too serious and that he won't miss much time, if any.
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