Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley only mustered 12 minutes of playing time before departing with a first-half ankle injury, but the dogged defender was willing to go back in the game and play through his injury.

Head coach Frank Vogel noted Bradley's willingness to go right back in but decided not to insert him back in the game after seeing a significant limp from his defensive ace. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope started the second half and took full advantage of his opportunity with 10 points in the outing.

“Hopefully it's not too bad,” said Vogel after the Lakers beat the Pistons 106-99 on Sunday, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. “He felt like he could come back, but he was limping pretty significantly. So we'll just see how it responds tomorrow night, and I'm sure we'll do more testing on it tomorrow.”

Avery Bradley has managed to hold onto his starting spot after dealing with an early-season injury. He missed 13 straight games from mid-November until early December due to a hairline fracture on the fibular head of his right leg, but has returned to be the three-and-D option the Lakers hoped he would be.

The 6-foot-2 guard wouldn't leave the game without having his imprint in history, being the only non-frontcourt player to block a shot against the Pistons, adding up to Anthony Davis' eight blocks, JaVale McGee's six, and Dwight Howard's five rejections for a season-best 20 blocks on Sunday.

Bradley has been every bit of the defender the Lakers wanted him to be, and it wouldn't be surprising to see him bounce back from this ankle injury soon enough.