The Nets saw their starting backcourt, point guard Devin Harris and shooting guard Courtney Lee, suffer ankle injuries at yesterday’s practice. And while Harris finished up the workout on his mildly tweaked left ankle, Lee was taken to the hospital for X-rays on his more worrisome right.
After being examined at Hackensack University Medical Center, Lee was diagnosed with a sprained right ankle. X-rays were negative, and he was undergoing treatment. He’ll be re-evaluated this morning.
“You’re always concerned. I have no clue [how serious it is]. We’ll find out. Keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best,” coach Lawrence Frank had said beforehand, after seeing both starters have run-ins with Terrence Williams during transition drills. Perhaps the rookie has a future as the Nets’ enforcer.
“Tazmanian Devil over there kind of knocked out two guys,” Harris said of Williams. “He stepped on it and I kind of rolled it to the outside. I just didn’t want to put any pressure on it, so I’ll wait until [today] to get back to action.”
Lee’s ankle injury was a bit more concerning.
“I don’t think it’s as serious as we first thought; but . . . they took him for X-rays, so we’ll find out more [later],” Harris said. “I don’t know what Courtney’s situation is. Obviously we want to get him back. He’s missed a couple of practices and one preseason game so we need to work him in just as much as anybody else.”
Lee had missed practice time and Sunday’s preseason loss to the Knicks with an inflamed foot. Yesterday’s injury was unrelated, getting hurt vying for a loose ball rebound with Williams.
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Eduardo Najera returned to practice for the first time since sports hernia surgery ended his season in late January. Najera had a sore back earlier in camp, but took an epidural shot last Tuesday and did almost everything in practice yesterday.
“I feel pretty good, a lot better than I thought,” Najera said. “I was able to do pretty much everything. Hopefully [today] I don’t feel sore, but it should be better. I’ve just got to get my wind back.”