Hawks’ Young sprains ankle: ‘It was painful’

MIAMI — Atlanta’s Trae Young didn’t want to see the video of the play where he sprained his right ankle.

It hurt enough the first time.

Young left the Hawks‘ game against the Miami Heat on Tuesday night after enduring a sprain — he said it was the first of his life — in the second quarter. The reigning Eastern Conference player of the week said he’s likely to have an MRI exam in Atlanta on Wednesday, but the initial diagnosis is only a sprain and no other serious issues.

“It was painful,” Young said. “Knock on wood, I haven’t had too many injuries. I’ve been blessed not to have too many injuries throughout my whole entire life, so that was definitely a tough pain.”

Young later posted to Instagram that he would “be back soon.”

Young was hurt on a drive about 2 minutes into the second quarter. He went into the air and landed on the foot of Miami’s Justise Winslow, twisting his ankle awkwardly. Young was eventually helped to his feet, initially unable to put much weight on that leg, and went to the Hawks’ locker room for further evaluation.

The Hawks quickly diagnosed the sprain and said Young would not return to the game.

“They did X-rays. I don’t think they saw anything,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said.

A league source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Atlanta’s medical staff will wait until Wednesday to determine whether an MRI will even be necessary. For now, the belief is that the injury is just a sprain.

Young, 21, entered Tuesday averaging 34 points through Atlanta’s first three games.

Young played in 81 of 82 games as a rookie, sitting out only the team’s next-to-last game at Milwaukee. His 11 minutes Tuesday were a career low, and the five points tied the second-lowest scoring night of his young career. He had four in a loss to Golden State last season.

“I definitely want to see that guy back out there,” Hawks forward John Collins said. “He’s had a hell of a start to the year. My guy off the court in general, so I just want to see him happy, healthy. You hate to see him go down like that, but you’re just hoping for a speedy recovery and back on the court when he’s ready and go from there.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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