All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell’s MRI on his right ankle revealed no structural damage, and a low ankle sprain is expected to keep the fourth-year Jazz veteran out for several games, a league source with knowledge of the situation told The Salt Lake Tribune on Saturday morning.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report the news.
Mitchell suffered the injury about 3.5 minutes into the third quarter of Friday afternoon’s victory over the Pacers, when he collided with Indiana’s Edmond Sumner. He was unable to put any weight on his leg, and was eventually helped off the court and into the locker room by a pair of teammates.
The Jazz initially diagnosed him with a sprained ankle, but conceded that further evaluation would need to be done.
It now appears Mitchell has avoided a worst-case scenario, though the team called the injury a “significant right lower ankle sprain,” and said he would be re-evaluated in one week.
Mitchell has been on a scoring tear of late — averaging 29.6 points per game in the 19 contests held since the All-Star break, and 30.0 points per game during the Jazz’s nine games in April.
He’d had a streak of four consecutive games of at least 35 points scored (three of which saw him score 40 or more). Mitchell scored 22 points in 21 minutes, 7 seconds of game time against Indiana before getting injured.
Mitchell is averaging career-highs in points (26.4), rebounds (4.4), assists (5.2), and 3-point percentage (38.6%) this season.
“It’s a challenge for us to play without him, and obviously we want to get him back as soon as possible,” coach Quin Snyder said before Saturday’s game in Los Angeles. “… Hopefully we can try to improve in some other ways.”
