Lakers News: Despite Ligament Tear As Result Of Grade 3 Ankle Sprain, Lonzo Ball Won’t Require Surgery

Matthew Moreno
3 Min Read
Tim Warner-Getty Images

Symbolic of how the season has gone for the Los Angeles Lakers, they lost Lonzo Ball to a sprained ankle suffered in the third quarter of Saturday’s game against the Houston Rockets.

The immediate visuals were not encouraging. Ball went to the ground in a heap of pain after colliding with James Ennis III and could not get back to his feet as play went the other way. He was carried off the court by Michael Beasley and Lance Stephenson.

An X-ray of Ball’s left ankle came back negative and he was given a preliminary diagnosis of a sprain. Upon undergoing an MRI, it was determined Ball suffered a Grade 3 sprain and is set to miss four to six weeks.

While that severity of a sprain amounts to a ligament tear, Ball will manage to avoid surgery, according to Tania Ganguli of the L.A. Times:

Last November, Ball suffered a mild left ankle sprain during practice. He then aggravated the injury in a Nov. 10 game against the Sacramento Kings, the first of a back-to-back, and again on Nov. 27.

The first instance didn’t prevent Ball from starting the following night, and while he was removed early in the third quarter, held out for the rest of the game and withheld from practice the next day, Ball again did not miss any time.

He attributed the ability to shake off the minor ankle trouble to improved physical condition from his rookie season. While that may have previously held true, Ball was unable to avoid a much more severe sprain this time around, and now he’ll endure another injury-impacted season.

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Matthew Moreno is a journalist from Whittier, Calif., who is a credentialed reporter and is currently the Managing Editor of DodgerBlue.com and LakersNation.com. In addition to covering Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angels Lakers games, Matthew has a strong passion for keeping up to date with the sneakerhead culture. It began with Michael Jordan and Air Jordan shoes, and has carried over to Kobe Bryant's signature line with Nike. Matthew previously was the lead editor and digital strategist at Dodgers Nation, and the co-editor and lead writer at Reign of Troy, where he covered USC Trojans Football. Matthew graduated from California State Long Beach University with a major in journalism and minor in communications. Contact: matt@mediumlargela.com