Injury specialist's Trae Young diagnosis is promising but scary

The Atlanta Hawks got their first unofficial update on Trae Young’s knee injury after taking a nasty hit to the knee from Brian Sutterer MD, a medical doctor who comments on sports injuries in real time. Young was diagnosed with a right knee sprain by Hawks PR, which Sutterer said is consistent with a ligament injury.

The injury came when Young's knee was hit laterally by a falling Mouhamed Gueye after a push from Noah Clowney. Young would remain on the floor in pain until the commercial break while officials reviewed the foul on Gueye. The call was upheld, giving Clowney a pair of free throws. Young briefly remained in the game, but would walk off the court during his first attempt to jog down the floor. Snyder called a timeout to allow a fifth player to enter the floor.

The contact to the knee came from the outside, which puts a “valgus force” on the knee. This stretches the inside of the knee and compresses the outside of the knee. The stretching is the more dangerous impact, which can injure the ligament on the inside of the knee — the MCL.

Young could be out anywhere from two weeks to the rest of the season

Sutterer’s assessment was bittersweet. A red flag Sutterer raised was that the contact also caused Young to roll his ankle, which can go hand in hand with an MCL injury. The rolling of the ankle to the inside further extends the pressure on the knee’s interior. While an MCL injury is not ideal by any means, it is certainly not the worst-case scenario.

MCL sprains do not usually require surgery, Sutterer said. The part of the MCL most prone to injury is, fortunately, the part of the ligament that receives a strong supply of blood, which would increase the rate at which Young could naturally heal.

On the bright side, he said the buckling and positioning of the knee were not consistent with an ACL injury, which represents a much greater risk. He did not rule out an ACL tear, saying it was “in the differential,” but Sutterer did not seem worried about an ACL tear.

An MCL sprain would be a relatively minor injury given the circumstances, only keeping Young out for two to four weeks. An ACL tear, however, would be a season-ending injury.

We wish Young the best as he deals with this troubling injury.

Update: As of 10:24 PM Eastern, Tim Bontemps reports that Trae Young did not suffer an ACL injury. However, Young will still undergo an MRI Thursday morning to assess any other damage, most likely the MCL.