Anfernee Simons of the Portland Trail Blazers rolled his ankle in the last minute of the third period of Portland’s game against the Washington Wizards today. Simons was taken off the floor and carried directly to the locker room by teammates.
According to Portland media member Sean Highkin, the team has announced that he will not return. They are terming the ailment a “right ankle sprain”. When Simons departed the game, he had 17 points on 6-15 shooting in 27 minutes.
His exit effectively ended the Blazers’ chances of a comeback, as they were down by 21 points, 94-73, at the time of his injury.
Simons has averaging 21.4 points and 4.2 assists in 35.7 minutes per game for the Blazers this season, starting all 55 games.The Blazers are already without starting centre Jusuf Nurkic and starting power forward Jerami Grant, both of whom did not play against the Wizards.They traded starting small forward Josh Hart to the New York Knicks earlier this week.
During the NBA All-Star break, Portland will take a long break.They will have an eight-day vacation after tonight before facing the Sacramento Kings on Thursday, February 23rd.
Simons was scheduled to compete on All-Star Saturday this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is slated to compete in the three-point shooting contest.There has been no news on the severity of the injury or whether it will preclude him from participating in the All-Star festivities.