The Portland Trail Blazers may be facing the loss of one of their key players for the rest of the regular season and beyond. Shooting guard Wesley Matthews, a pending free agent and the franchise's career leader in made three-pointers, suffered an apparent left leg injury with 10:10 remaining in the third quarter of Thursday night's game against the Dallas Mavericks. While the Blazers have not yet released a diagnosis, the early indications are not good.
Matthews went down while catching the ball and attempting to drive to the basket in transition. Replays show his left leg buckling as he planted it, without any other contact, after which he fell to the ground in pain. Matthews immediately grabbed the area around his left ankle and heel. He attempted to get up a few seconds later before lying down on his back and putting his hands over his heads. You can watch the scene here:
The Blazers announced several minutes later that Matthews would be ruled out for the rest of the game:
TNT sideline reporter Rebecca Haarlow reported that she heard Matthews bang a table loudly in the dressing room. She also said that Blazers owner Paul Allen left the locker room shortly thereafter shaking his head.
The circumstances of the injury have compelled many observers to wonder if Matthews suffered a torn Achilles tendon, which would keep him out for the rest of the season and require a lengthy rehabilitation process. That would be a nightmare scenario for both the Blazers and Matthews, who has looked set to sign a lucrative contract as an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Even a more minor injury would be problematic for Portland. Although he does not have the national profile of other players, Matthews is one of the top two-way guards in the NBA and an excellent outside shooter. His 173 three-pointers rank fourth in the league for 2014-15, and he broke Terry Porters' all-time franchise despite playing in just his fifth season with the Blazers. Matthews has also been one of the most durable players in basketball — he has missed only 13 games over his entire career, all during the 2012-13 campaign.
At 40-19 and third place in the highly competitive West, Portland can ill afford to lose such a major player for a significant amount of time. The Blazers have a capable replacement for Matthews in recently acquired veteran Arron Afflalo, but they brought him in to improve a very thin bench, not as an insurance policy. All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge is already playing through a torn ligament in his left thumb — an injury that had threatened to keep him out for several months — and the team was forced to play without Robin Lopez for roughly six weeks while he recovered from a broken hand.
We will provide updates on Matthews's status when more information becomes available.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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