MRI reveals grade-3 ankle sprain for Kings’ DaQuan Jeffries. Here’s the prognosis
Kings swingman DaQuan Jeffries was nearing a return after missing the first three games of the season due to back soreness, but he suffered a major setback Tuesday.
The Kings said Jeffries sprained his left ankle while participating in 4-on-4 activities before Tuesday’s 125-115 victory over the Denver Nuggets. An MRI on Wednesday morning revealed a grade-3 sprain. An update on Jeffries’ status will be provided in six weeks, the team said.
Jeffries did not accompany the team to Houston, where the Kings (3-1) will face the Rockets (0-2) on Thursday and Saturday. The Rockets have been in disarray amid James Harden’s trade demands, but John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Gordon and Mason Jones are expected to return Thursday after missing the start of the season under quarantine orders due to COVID-19 protocols.
Jeffries, 23, is a 6-foot-5, 220-pound guard/forward who went undrafted out of Tulsa in 2019. He had a 44-point game in the G League last season after signing a two-way contract with the Kings. In November, after a strong showing in the NBA bubble, Sacramento signed Jeffries to a two-year, $3 million deal with a team option in the second year.
Jeffries will be out for quite some time as he recovers from the same injury that forced Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox to miss 17 games last season. Dr. Mark Drakos, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports-related injuries, explained the severity of grade-3 sprains in an interview with The Sacramento Bee following Fox’s injury.
“A grade-3 sprain means there was a tear of two of the ligaments on the outside of the ankle,” said Drakos, a foot and ankle surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. “Grade 1 is a partial tear of one or both ligaments. Grade 2 is a complete tear of one and a partial tear of the other. A grade-3 sprain is the worst of the sprains. That means there was a tear of two of the ligaments on the outside of the ankle, so it’s a significant injury in terms of contributing to the overall stability of the ankle.”
A grade-3 sprain typically requires four to six weeks of recovery, but some can take longer to heal, Drakos said. In 2017-18, Matthew Dellavedova missed nine weeks for the Milwaukee Bucks and Reggie Jackson missed 12 weeks for the Detroit Pistons. In 2018-19, Lonzo Ball missed the last 11 weeks of the season after suffering the same injury with the Los Angeles Lakers.
This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 12:43 PM.
