CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Deron Williams couldn’t make it through one game before re-injuring his left ankle.
The Nets point guard left Wednesday night’s 95-91 loss to the Bobcats in the second quarter after spraining his left ankle once again after landing on Kemba Walker’s foot after taking a jumper.
He had only just returned to the lineup for the Nets after missing the prior two games following a sprained left ankle in the opening minutes of Friday’s 100-98 overtime win in Charlotte, which was the latest setback in his now year-plus battle with both ankles.
“He’s just as frustrated as we are, obviously,” Paul Pierce said of Williams, who didn’t speak after the game. “He’s been dealing with this since summer, and then one ankle gets better and he hurts the other one.”
Williams went up for a jump shot with just over three minutes to go in the second quarter and landed on Walker’s foot, immediately crumpling to the ground in pain and grabbing at his foot. After a combination of limping and being helped off the court during a timeout, Williams went to the free-throw line and made both free throws.
The Nets, however, intentionally fouled Bobcats center Bismayck Biyombo right away, sending him to the foul line and allowing the Nets to replace Williams with backup Shaun Livingston. Williams then immediately went back to the locker room, accompanied by Nets trainer Tim Walsh.
“It’s tough,” Kevin Garnett said. “It’s tough all the way around. The basketball gods are going to bless us, though. We’re going to work. We’re going to continue to work, and we’re going to get ourselves out of this.
Williams missed virtually the entire preseason after suffering a sprained right ankle during a workout in Utah in early September, only playing about 10 minutes in the team’s exhibition finale in Miami on Oct. 25.
Last season, Williams received three separate rounds of cortisone injections, as well as a round of platelet-rich plasma treatment, to deal with inflammation in both ankles.
In addition to Williams, both Brook Lopez (sprained left ankle) and Andrei Kirilenko (back spasms) remained out of the lineup for the Nets.