Jennings on ankle: "It’s not broke, so I’ll be playing for sure next game”

The Bucks lost for the ninth straight time to the Bulls on Saturday night, but they looked like they might have lost something more valuable when Brandon Jennings went down with an ankle injury inside the final 30 seconds. Jennings drove left on Kirk Hinrich and rolled his left ankle, immediately flipping the ball aimlessly toward the hoop as he went down in pain.

Drew Gooden and Sam Dalembert subsequently carried Jennings off the court, but the Bucks' point guard was putting on a brave face in the locker room after the game. Andrew Gruman of Fox Sports Wisconsin reports:

"Nothing long," Jennings said. "It's not broke, so I'll be playing for sure the next game. It's really sore right now, so I'll just ice it up and get ready to go tomorrow (for practice)."

It's the same foot that Jennings broke two years ago in San Antonio, though the severity of the injury wasn't known until two games later. Jennings missed 19 games and then took another few weeks before he looked like his old self when he returned in early 2011.

So while it's certainly a good thing that Jennings was optimistic about playing on Monday, let's wait until we know more today before we assume everything is OK. Jennings has generally been incredibly durable throughout his career, especially in terms of avoiding the sorts of sprains and muscle strains that generally cost players games here and there. So there wouldn't be anything surprising about him bouncing back quickly, but knowing Brandon--especially after a frustrating loss--there's also nothing surprising to me about him thinking he wouldn't miss a beat. He knows his body better than anyone else, so let's hope he's right.