Deron Williams suffers third left ankle sprain this season

Deron Williams, Miles Plumlee, Eric Bledsoe

Deron Williams, Miles Plumlee, Eric Bledsoe
Williams after his first ankle injury in November (AP)
After originally being listed as a game-time decision, Brooklyn Nets All-Star point guard Deron Williams will sit out to rest his injured left ankle, the Brooklyn Nets announced today.

Nets head coach Jason Kidd told reporters before Monday night’s game that the injury is a left ankle sprain. Williams will be re-evaluated by team doctors tomorrow.

It is the third sprained left ankle Williams has suffered this season, after spraining it first on November 15th and re-spraining the ankle on November 20th, both times by landing on an opponent’s foot. It is not clear exactly when Williams re-aggravated the ankle, or if the injury occurred during a game.

Alan Anderson will start in Williams’s place, joining Shaun Livingston, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett to round out the starting lineup.

The Brooklyn Nets have recalled Tyshawn Taylor from the team’s D-League affiliate Springfield Armor, just hours after the team sent him down with Tornike Shengelia. Taylor was sent down to play in Wednesday’s D-League showcase, but the Nets brought him back before he had the chance.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a beat writer intimately connected with the team to connect the dots: with Williams’s ankle leaving him sidelined, sending Taylor away would leave the Nets with just one point guard, the talented but limited Livingston, on the active roster.