Blazers' Crabbe out 4-6 weeks with severe ankle sprain

Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard Allen Crabbe has been diagnosed with a severe left ankle sprain and will miss the next four-to-six weeks, the team announced Thursday.

While the injury is unfortunate and the timeline restrictive to Crabbe's offseason development, it's a positive that he'll be ready ahead of training camp, especially considering how serious the injury initially looked. Crabbe injured the ankle in a game at Las Vegas Summer League on Wednesday, requiring a stretcher to come off the court. X-rays came back negative, but an MRI on Thursday confirmed the severity of the sprain.

This puts an end to Crabbe's summer league, and he represented well. In four games, the 23-year-old averaged 15.5 points on 53.2-percent shooting, knocking down 43.8 percent of his outside looks.

It's a pivotal offseason for the 6-foot-6 wing, as the Blazers are set to enter the post-LaMarcus Aldridge era with plenty of wings vying for a place in head coach Terry Stotts' rotation. Portland surrendered a pair of second-round picks to land Crabbe at No. 31 in the 2013 draft, but he's yet to really make an impact due to the team's previous wing quality and focus on contention.

As a sophomore in 2014-15, Crabbe averaged 3.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in 13.4 minutes over 51 games. Despite that modest production, he brings an above-average skill to the table with a 36.4-percent career mark from outside.

He has a non-guaranteed, $947,276, league-minimum contract for this season, and it would be surprising to see him fail to make the team out of camp given his age and first-round-bubble pedigree.