Medical Analysis: Mo Bamba’s ‘high ankle sprain’ injury

The Los Angeles Lakers acquired center Mo Bamba from the Orlando Magic in exchange for Patrick Beverly and a second-round pick with the hopes that he could provide a perimeter threat from the center position along with a defensive presence.

Bamba showed flashes of that potential for the team, but his minutes had been cut since the Dallas Mavericks game, where he missed multiple defensive rotations. His minutes began to increase again over the past week, but then he injured his ankle just two minutes into his first shift vs the Golden State Warriors.

There wasn’t much clarity on Bamba’s injury, but he was seen in a boot during the team’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies. The boot days after an injury never bodes well and today the team announced that Bamba suffered a “high ankle sprain” — the same injury LeBron James had two seasons ago. — and will be reevaluated in four weeks.

In the following video, I dove into the injury along, with the typical return timeline for this type of issue:

This is a tough injury to deal with, and probably couldn’t come at a worse time for Bamba, who was trying to make a statement and earn his next contract. His limited games with the Lakers now make that less likely, as he wasn’t playing much in Orlando either.

It’s always hard to project injuries and timelines out (watch my last video for more on that) so I will keep you updated as we learn more information.

Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own in-person and online sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA and partners with Quantum Performance in which he further combines his movement expertise and fitness training background to rehab & train elite athletes. He also works at a hospital — giving him experience with patients in the immediate healthcare setting and neurological patients (post stroke, post brain injury) — and has been practicing for over 5 years. Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), has a background in youth basketball coaching and analyzes the Lakers from a medical and skills perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and on his own YouTube Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @3cbPerformance.