SAN ANTONIO - Carter Bryant’s second preseason game ended early Saturday night, and the Spurs are now waiting on word after the second-year forward came up with an apparent ankle injury in Phoenix.
Bryant was hurt in the second quarter of San Antonio’s 102-98 loss to the Suns after a sequence that left him favoring his right leg. He was defending Suns guard Jalen Green when a screener came over on Bryant’s right side.
As Spurs wing Devin Vassell switched onto Green, Bryant planted his right foot on Vassell’s left foot. Bryant immediately began hobbling, limped off the floor and eventually headed to the locker room.
Mitch Johnson quickly turned to Stephon Castle, and Bryant did not return.
“I don’t know any details,” Johnson said after the game. “I don’t know if it was a contest or a rotation but he stepped on Devin’s foot, so hopefully he’s okay, but yeah, I’m not quite sure.”
Before the injury, Bryant’s night was quiet. He finished with one block and one foul in 10 minutes. That was a far different line from his first preseason outing against the Atlanta Hawks, when he scored 11 points, grabbed five rebounds and hit 2-5 from 3-point range.
Bryant’s value has always been easier to see in the trenches than in the box score. During his rookie season, he averaged 4.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per game, then saw his role shrink late in the playoffs before still contributing 2.6 points in 8.5 minutes per game during the postseason run.
“I want to be a matchup nightmare for anybody,” Bryant said before the preseason. “1 through 5, being able to guard multiple positions, contest shots at the rim, be a rim protector at the wing position, be able to pick up full court, turn guards. Just make life hard for anybody.”
The injury lands at a time when San Antonio is already juggling several absences. Tobias Harris, the offseason addition from the Detroit Pistons, has been held out by a strained left calf in training camp, and Johnson said the Spurs won’t rush him back.
“It's a calf strain. The seriousness is what it is," Johnson said.
"We won't rush him at all. I guess the question will be is he ready for the season opener?
Totally questionable, and we will not push that at all. So, we'll take it slow.”
De’Aaron Fox is also out. He missed the Spurs’ first preseason game with “general soreness,” which Johnson later narrowed to “general tightness in his hip”.
Fox did take part in the Spurs Silver & Black Open Scrimmage on Sunday, Oct. 4.
“It is what it is. Injuries happen,” Fox said at Media Day when asked about the high ankle sprain that affected him in last year’s playoffs. “I was able to play through it and I played.”
Harris has been ruled out for the preseason, while Fox remains day to day as the Spurs wait to see how their three-guard starting look comes together. San Antonio’s next preseason game is Monday at 8 p.m. against the Utah Jazz in Utah.
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