Trae Young Was Helped To The Locker Room After Rolling His Ankle Against The Heat (UPDATE)

UPDATE: Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN provided a bit of good news, as he reported that x-rays were negative on Trae Young’s ankle things might not be as bad as they originally appeared.

We’ll find out soon enough exactly how long Young will be out, but for now, this is as good of news as the Hawks could have gotten.

EARLIER: The Atlanta Hawks aren’t expected to make a push for the postseason this year, but the early returns on Trae Young’s second year in the NBA give them justified reasons for optimism. Young, a first-team All-Rookie selection last season, has been a supernova for Atlanta as the team has started 2-1 this season, whether he’s been scoring or distributing.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, though, Young went down on Tuesday night with a nasty looking ankle injury. The team is in Miami for a matchup with the Heat, and while the biggest storyline of the game was Jimmy Butler’s debut in South Beach, Young went down during the second quarter of action and had to be helped to the locker room. The former University of Oklahoma standout tried pushing the ball up the floor in transition and drove into the paint, bringing his foot down and stepping on the foot of Heat guard Justise Winslow.

Everyone who has ever played basketball can guess what came next: Young rolled his ankle, and after laying on the ground in obvious pain, had to be helped into the locker room.

Even by the standards of ankle rolls, this one looks really ugly. And as it turns out, it’s not great, as the Hawks have already ruled him out for the evening with an ankle sprain.

We’ll be sure to keep you up to date as more information comes in on whether this will keep Young out for an extended period of time, but here’s to hoping we’ll see him return to the floor as soon as possible.