🏀 Justin Champagnie, right foot injury He could not put any weight on it and needed help to the locker room in the first quarter. When a player cannot walk off on his own, the foot gets imaged before anyone labels it a simple sprain 👇 1️⃣ What the film shows He went up for a defensive rebound in a crowd under the basket. Bodies block the camera at the landing, so the film does not show the foot hitting the floor. Beat writers say he landed on someone's foot. What the film does show: he hopped out of bounds on his left leg with the right foot held completely off the floor, then needed two staff members under his arms to get off the court. 2️⃣ Why it matters Landing on another player's foot forces the foot to roll in with the toes pointed down. That loads the ATFL first, the small ligament on the outside front of the ankle. If the foot stays pinned and the body keeps twisting, the force can move into the midfoot instead. That is the Lisfranc ligament, which holds the second metatarsal to the middle of the foot, or the base of the fifth metatarsal, the long bone on the outside edge of the foot. Champagnie earns his minutes on the glass and on hard cuts, so every rebound is a jump and a landing on that foot. Trouble putting weight on it right after the play is one of the standard reasons a foot gets an X ray. Differential: lateral ankle sprain (ATFL with or without the CFL), midfoot (Lisfranc) sprain, fifth metatarsal fracture, and a high ankle (syndesmosis) sprain. Path A: Lateral sprain with clean X rays. In an NBA study, more than half of ankle sprains cost zero games. He is day to day and returns once he can hop, land and cut on it without pain the next day, with Wednesday at Cleveland the first test. Path B: Imaging finds a Lisfranc ligament injury or a fifth metatarsal fracture. Then healing and a follow up MRI or CT set the timeline, and he misses more than this week. 3️⃣ What I'd watch next 1. X ray results, and whether the team orders an MRI or CT 2. Whether he leaves the arena in a walking boot or on crutches 3. His status for Wednesday at Cleveland Takeaway: I lean A, because landing on a foot most often produces a lateral sprain and his NBA injury history shows no foot or ankle listing. Being helped off without much weight on it, and the team saying foot instead of ankle, keep Path B alive until the imaging comes back. Are you holding Champagnie or grabbing a replacement this week? 👇 Reports via @WashWizards @GregFinberg @JoshuaBRobbins. Film via @brasil_wizards