Tony Parker expected to be out four weeks with ankle sprain

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The San Antonio Spurs announced on Saturday that the results of an MRI revealed a grade 2 ankle sprain for Tony Parker and that the point guard is expected to miss four weeks.

That timetable, if accurate, would put Parker back in the lineup around the first week of April, giving him about two weeks to get up-to-speed before the playoffs start.

Parker you probably remember (because it was yesterday) twisted his ankle in the third quarter of the Spurs’ 130-102 win over the Sacramento Kings.

It’ll be the first extended stretch this Spurs will play without Tony Parker since the Spurs All-Star broke his hand against the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2010-11 season.

The injury to TP could cost the Spurs home court advantage with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers both within 3.5 games of San Antonio in the Western Conference. At the same time, Parker’s injury could help solidify the backup point guard role, which has been uncertain this season.

  • Graham

    Real interesting to see if the team steps up to the plate while Tony’s out. Hopefully a home heavy schedule will let us hold onto the 1 seed till Tony gets back, but by no means will that be certain.

    So do you think shifting Manu to the starting 2 guard spot is on the table now? (Having, say, Mills take over starting 1) De Colo can potentially fill in as the playmaker on the 2nd unit with Green perhaps sliding down to the 3 , and Neal serving as the 2 (or alternatively, Green stays at 2 and Jackson at 3, depending on health).

    In a weird way this is probably a good thing. We cruised into the playoffs last year on an incredible run, and weren’t able to recover when things got rough. Perhaps a bumpy road into the playoffs with some tough battles to hold onto what we have will do this team good.

  • Sir Timothy

    4 weeks is right on the line of being a problem for the Spurs…As I wrote a couple of days ago, three weeks brings him back with a probably 51 - 16 record with 7 games missed.

    But 4 weeks brings him back somewhere in the middle of the Golden State, Utah, @ Houston, Clippers, Miami, @ Memphis stretch!

    Now without Tony we could lose a few of those…maybe go 3 -3. So now that would be something like 54 - 19 with only 9 tough games to go.

    It will be interesting! Have Faith and Go Spurs Go!

  • neverthehero

    I like this way of thinking. A few things to gleen from this experience is one Pop has to decide on his resting players manifesto. Parker gets hurt when he shouldn’t have been in the game. Players can get hurt anytime……….. Say what you want about the reason the Spurs got beat last year, but my two cents, is that they got beat because the Thunder adjusted game three and the Spurs didn’t respond by any adjustments of their own. Outside of eventually pulling Green and over-playing everyone else. A simple solution would’ve let Blair freaking play.