Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young has been having a pretty spectacular sophomore season, checking in among the top-five in the league in both scoring and assists at 28.5 points and 8.3 assists per game. Unfortunately, his campaign has been disrupted twice by ankle injuries, the latter of which occurred on Friday night during the Hawks’ matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks. 

The good news for Young and Atlanta is that it doesn’t appear this latest injury will keep him off the floor for too long. Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that Young was a full participant at practice and is expected to be back in the lineup on Friday night when Atlanta takes on the Boston Celtics. 

Driving into the paint against the Bucks, Young got tangled up with veteran point guard George Hill and collapsed to the ground where he immediately grabbed his ankle. He was helped off of the court by Kevin Huerter and John Collins, and the Hawks quickly ruled Young out for the remainder of the game. 

After that game, Young told media members that he would not be traveling with the team to Chicago for their game against the Bulls on Saturday night. Instead, Young said that he would remain in Atlanta to receive treatment on the ankle. 

“I rolled it pretty bad,” Young said. “It hurts pretty bad right now, but that’s to be expected. I’m getting treatment on it and iced it already.”  

Given Young’s reaction, and considering the fact that he already missed a game earlier this season with a sprain of the same ankle, there was initial concern that the Hawks could be without him for a while. 

“It was bad the first time, but the pain was bad this time, as well,” Young said. “It hurt really bad, especially when it happened, but I don’t really know a comparison.”  

Thankfully, it turned out that this injury was a case of something looking worse than it actually was, and if Young does indeed return on Friday, he’ll do so having missed just two games.