LA Clippers guard Landry Shamet suffered a Grade 2 high ankle sprain against the Toronto Raptors and could miss a decent amount of time.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski announced today that LA Clippers guard Landry Shamet suffered a Grade 2 high sprain in his left ankle against the Toronto Raptors Monday night.
Shamet was injured late in the third quarter of last night’s game when Fred VanVleet drove into him. Initially, the injury looked like it could be a rather serious one. Luckily, it’s just a sprain.
That said, Shamet will likely miss some considerable time for the Clippers in the coming weeks as most grade 2 ankle sprains require about four-to-six weeks of healing time, per a quick Google search.
The injury does mean the Clippers will have to do some lineup adjusting with Paul George returning from his shoulder injury this week, but expect the likes of Jerome Robinson, Rodney McGruder and Terance Mann to receive some more minutes.
McGruder could also see an introduction into the starting lineup alongside Patrick Beverley in the backcourt, or Doc Rivers could play around with the idea of playing George at the two, Kawhi Leonard at the three and one of Patrick Patterson, Maurice Harkless or JaMychal Green at the four (which seems like the more likely scenario).
Seeing as Shamet was in the starting lineup for beginning of the season, expect a committee of sorts to take over the shooting guard position in the starting lineup while Shamet nurses his ankle back to health. Again, McGruder, Robinson and Mann will all likely see some action in the starting lineup at some point during the duration of his injury — probably exclusively in load management scenarios.
The Clippers have one of the deepest rosters in the association, especially at the guard position, so don’t expect Shamet’s injury to have an enormous impact on the team in the coming weeks.
Shamet is currently averaging 9.1 points per game while shooting at 39.0 percent from the field and 36.2 percent from three-point range. His absence will affect the three-point shooting for the offense but coach Rivers likely has a plan for that until the Wichita State product returns.
There’s currently no official timetable available for Shamet’s return, but considering the severity of the injury, it could be a month or so until he’s back on the floor. Here’s hoping that he has a fast recovery.