Utah Jazz fans can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief.
When Donovan Mitchell turned his ankle during Friday’s Jazz win over the Indiana Pacers, the injury looked severe, as Mitchell was unable to bear weight on his right foot or leave the court on his own.
Following the game, the Jazz called Mitchell’s injury a right ankle sprain, but that was before additional imaging was done to assess the severity of the injury.
But after a MRI and clinical evaluation, the Jazz announced on Saturday that Mitchell had not suffered any structural damage. The Jazz are calling the lower right ankle sprain “significant,” but that’s a lot better than many thought the injury was when it happened.
“I think everybody, until he had had the MRI, had questions,” Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said on Saturday ahead of the Jazz’s road game against the Los Angeles Lakers. “It’s a challenge for us to play without him and we want to get him back as soon as possible.”
Mitchell will be re-evaluated in one week, at which point he will have missed four games.
“It puts some other guys in position to be more aggressive and have a greater usage,” Snyder said of Mitchell’s upcoming absence. “Hopefully we can try to improve in some other ways until we get Donovan back and then be better when we do.”
Prior to Saturday, Mitchell had missed just three games this season. He was out against the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 27 and 29 while going through the league’s concussion protocol and missed the game in Memphis on March 31, the day after the Jazz’s original flight to Memphis had to make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff when the left engine was damaged after hitting a flock of birds.
Mitchell has averaged 34.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists over the last six games.