Team USA narrowly escaped Tuesday's matchup against Turkey in the FIBA World Cup with a 93-92 overtime victory. Though they managed to carry the day, the American side may have lost Celtics guard Jayson Tatum due to an ankle injury.
With under three seconds remaining in the overtime frame and the Turkish side leading by one point (92-91), Team USA came down the floor for a fast-break opportunity. Unfortunately, though, Tatum appeared to roll his ankle as he passed the ball off to Khris Middleton for a game-winning layup.
In obvious pain, Tatum was helped off the floor:
Looks like Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle or slipped on this late-game fastbreak drive vs Turkey. He was limping and then helped off the court pic.twitter.com/PnQiAeKk9j
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) September 3, 2019
Jayson Tatum hurt his left ankle in the final seconds of Team USA's win, after making a really nice play to drop the ball off to Khris Middleton on a break for what wound up being a game-winning play. Hopefully it looked worse than it winds up being.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) September 3, 2019
According to a report from ESPN's Brian Windhorst, Tatum suffered an ankle sprain. He's set for re-evaluation at some point on Wednesday.




Official update on Jayson Tatum: sprained left ankle, will be re-evaluated tomorrow.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) September 3, 2019
Tatum logged just over six minutes in Tuesday's win over Turkey, racking up 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting from the field (0-for-3 from beyond the arc), 11 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. Middleton led the team with 15 points, followed by Kemba Walker (14 points, seven assists and six rebounds).
Tatum will likely be sidelined, which means Team USA will be even thinner. For a variety of reasons, several prominent NBA players decided to withdraw from this year's FIBA tournament.
Hopefully, Tatum will be able to recover from this ankle sprain in time for preseason action with the Celtics.
About 20 minutes after his ankle injury, Jayson Tatum texted Brad Stevens, who is in Boston, and told him the injury didn't appear to be serious. #Celtics #TeamUSA
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) September 3, 2019