The Cleveland Cavaliers received yet another injury scare during their Saturday night contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder – this time for big man Lauri Markkanen.

The Cavs forward went up to contest a drive against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander late in the second quarter. As he landed, his foot turned hard on his right ankle. Markkanen had to be supported off the court as he headed to the locker room to get it checked.

Via Chris Fedor:

Sources tell cleveland.com that X-rays taken on his ankle were negative. The sense is Markkanen has a high ankle sprain.

While it’s a good thing that the injury wasn’t anything more than an ankle sprain, the severity of Markkanen’s injury is yet to be determined. Given how much pain the Cavs forward was in, it may be on the more severe side of the spectrum as far as ankle sprains go.

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Another injury is the last thing that the Cavs need this season. They already had guard Collin Sexton deemed out for the season after tearing his meniscus on his left knee. Then veteran Ricky Rubio suffered a torn ACL on his left knee, leaving the Cavs rotation down two of its best players.
While the Cavs do have more depth in the frontcourt spots with Jarrett Allen, Kevin Love and Evan Mobley all capable of stepping up, losing Lauri Markkanen for an extended period of time would still be a huge blow for a team trying to keep its place amongst the Eastern elite.