Aldridge sprains ankle; status uncertain for Sat.
NEW ORLEANS — San Antonio Spurs power forward LaMarcus Aldridge suffered a sprained left ankle Friday during a 104-90 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, casting doubt about his availability for the team’s matchup Saturday against the Memphis Grizzlies.
“[It’s] pretty tight right now, but we’ll re-evaluate it in the morning and see how it feels,” Aldridge said.
Aldridge sprained the ankle with 8:56 left in the first quarter, when he stepped on the foot of New Orleans’ Alonzo Gee after missing a shot. Aldridge immediately left the game and walked to the locker room to get the ankle taped. He re-entered the contest in the second quarter and played the rest of the way, finishing with 20 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot.
“I took the shot. I went to take a step backward, and then I stepped on Alonzo Gee’s foot, and it went out to the side,” Aldridge said. “I tried to play through it. I was a little bit of a liability on the defensive side. I couldn’t move laterally, but I tried to get there tonight.”
Asked whether Aldridge’s injury could force him to miss time, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, “I have no idea.”
Aldridge was noticeably limping in the locker room after the game, and the team’s medical staff quickly fitted him with a blue brace. Aldridge was unsure whether he’d be able to play Saturday when the Spurs host the Grizzlies. But Aldridge did say he doesn’t want to return until he can be a contributor and not a liability on offense and defense.
“I don’t know. We’ll see how it feels,” Aldridge said. “It usually gets worse the next day. So we’ll see how it feels when I wake up, and we’ll re-evaluate it. I just want to make sure that if I’m out there, I want to be good on both ends of the floor, not just on one end.”
If the team is forced to sit Aldridge on Saturday, there’s a good chance that either David West or Boris Diaw would take his spot in the starting lineup.
Aldridge averaged a career-high 23.4 points and 10.2 rebounds last season as a Portland Trail Blazer, where he spent the first nine years of his career, before signing in July with the Spurs as a free agent. Aldridge has averaged more than 20 points per game in each of the past five seasons but is currently averaging 14.8 in his first season with the Spurs.
In other injury news, Popovich said guard Manu Ginobili will play Saturday against the Grizzlies after sitting out the last two games because of bilateral hip tightness.
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