An MRI has confirmed that Orlando Magic swingman Evan Fournier sprained his right ankle, a team official said.
Although no one has disclosed the severity of the sprain, it seems likely the Magic will be without their second-leading scorer for the foreseeable future, jeopardizing the Magic's hopes of piling up wins over their relatively soft schedule the remainder of this month.
Fournier will not play when the Magic host the Denver Nuggets Friday and will not make the trip to Atlanta for Saturday night's matchup against the Atlanta Hawks.
Fournier played in all 26 of the Magic's games so far. In those games, he averaged 18.3 points, made 41.5 percent of his 3-point attempts and served as a go-to option in critical situations.
His injury occurred at a time when the Magic already were suffering from a pair of high-impact absences. Swingman Terrence Ross has missed the Magic's last four games because of a right-knee injury and will miss a significant amount of time while he recovers. Rookie forward and defensive standout Jonathan Isaac tonight will sit out his 14th consecutive game because of a sprained right ankle.
Fournier's absence means the Magic will need bigger contributions from a wide assortment of players, including current starters Elfrid Payton, Jonathon Simmons, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic. While veteran swingman Arron Afflalo is the mostly likely candidate to take Fournier's place in the starting lineup, the team also will need better play from reserves D.J. Augustin, Bismack Biyombo, Mario Hezonja, Wes Iwundu, Shelvin Mack and Marreese Speights.
"We've got a lot of talented guys here, guys that can fill it up when we're sharing the ball the way we're supposed to," Payton said Thursday. "But it's going to be tough to fill Evan's shoes. He makes big shots for us constantly. He's someone that gets into the paint and can get to the free-throw line. It's going to be tough to do it, but I think we can."
Fournier rolled his ankle when he made a floater on the opening possession of overtime in the Magic's win Wednesday over the Hawks.
On Thursday, he navigated around the Magic's Amway Center practice facility on crutches and later received the MRI.
Injuries already have emerged as a central theme to the Magic's 2017-18 season.
Payton missed nine games due to a hamstring injury. Augustin missed seven games because of a hamstring injury.
