Thunder rookie Hamidou Diallo suffers left ankle sprain; reevaluation in 7-10 days

In the midst of the Thunder’s convincing win over the Warriors, rookie Hamidou Diallo was enjoying another strong performance as a spark plug off the bench. Unfortunately, after challenging for a rebound midway through the 4th quarter, Diallo landed awkwardly on top of the Warriors’ Jonas Jerebko, and Diallo’s leg got pinned underneath with both his weight and Jerebko’s coming down on his knee.

In a much better than expected outcome, it turns out Diallo has only suffered a sprained left ankle and, while still significant, is not as bad as what initially appeared to be a severe knee/leg injury.

Royce Young reports:

“I was hoping, praying it was nothing too serious, that it wasn’t his knee,” George said. “I think we can all say it’s the best news that it was his ankle and it was a sprain.”

Diallo exited the locker room with a boot on his left foot and using crutches, but he was in good spirits after getting what was pretty surprising news considering how scary the play looked.

While both the ultimate severity of the injury and expected recovery remain uncertain at this point, it is as a whole very good news for the rookie who has been making a significant impact for the Thunder since day one.

Update1

Diallo was evaluated today, and the ankle sprain was confirmed. He will be reevaluated within the next two weeks.