During Portland’s first summer league tournament game against Minnesota, swingman Allen Crabbe went down with what appeared to be a nasty ankle injury. He was carried off the floor on a stretcher and underwent an MRI the following day. The results revealed a severe left ankle sprain, sidelining him for 4-6 weeks.

The injury came on defense when Crabbe and Noah Vonleh​ put together a string of back-to-back-to-back blocks. As reported by Marc J. Spears of Yahoo!, he came down with a lot of weight on his left leg and yelled in pain after suffering the injury. Luckily, Crabbe’s injury isn’t as serious as it initially looked; he’ll have plenty of time to recover before the start of the NBA season.

The Blazers are now in the second round of the Las Vegas summer league tournament after beating Karl-Anthony Towns and the T-Wolves. They play the number two Boston Celtics Thursday night, a team whom they lost their summer league opener to back on July 11th. Without Crabbe, Portland doesn’t have a defined leader on the court. He had the most experience with the actual Blazers organization, and his performances in the three preliminary games undoubtedly made coach Terry Stotts consider gifting him the reserve small forward position behind Al-Farouq Aminu.

Noah Vonleh and Tim Frazier, two players relatively new to the organization, have outperformed their teammates throughout the summer league games. With Crabbe no longer running floor general, they’ll be forced to step up and guide the team to victory. Vonleh missed the opener against Boston, but has averaged 16 points and eight rebounds per contest since then. Frazier, who is vying for the backup point guard position behind All-Star Damian Lillard, has added stats all across the board each night.

While Allen Crabbe’s injury dooms Portland’s summer league tournament run, it gives free agents and rookies the chance to make their mark on Blazers management. Pat Connaughton and Luis Montero, both new signings, should see more floor time with the absence of Crabbe.

In the end, the injury most likely won’t affect Crabbe’s participation in the regular season. He has several months to recover and train with the team before any competition begins. This ankle injury is his first and doesn’t require surgery, allowing him to return to 100 percent by the season debut.