In the fourth quarter of the Washington Wizards' tightly contested battle with the Philadelphia 76ers, rookie Bradley Beal went down with a scary ankle injury and was forced to the locker room. 

 

UPDATE: Wednesday, April 3, at 4:34 p.m. ET by Richard Langford

Bradley Beal's rookie season has come to a premature end. Yahoo! Sports! Adrian Wojnarowski passes along the info in this tweet: 

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UPDATE: Friday, March 22 at 10:34 p.m. ET by Joseph Zucker

Bradley Beal re-injured his ankle in the Washington Wizards' 88-79 win over the Phoenix Suns. As a result, Michael Lee of The Washington Post reported Beal is out for Friday night's game against the Los Angeles Lakers:

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UPDATE: Thursday, March 21 at 12:15 a.m. ET by Ben Chodos

After missing six games due to his ankle injury, Bradley Beal is still not fully healthy. Although the Bobcats' contest against the Phoenix Suns was his third game back, the Washington Wizards Twitter notes that he was unable to make it to the final buzzer. He finished the night with six points in 19 minutes:

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UPDATE: Wednesday, March 6 at 6:53 p.m. ET by Ryan Rudnansky

Bradley Beal will not play in tonight's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves due to a sprained ankle, according to the Washington Wizards.

The Wizards tweeted on Wednesday:

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UPDATE: Sunday, March 3 at 9:45 p.m. ET by Ryan Rudnansky

The X-rays on Bradley Beal's ankle came back negative on Sunday, according to the Washington Wizards.

The Wizards tweeted:

 

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The update from the Washington Post's Michael Lee isn't an encouraging one for Wizards fans, either:

It's still unknown how severe this injury is, but the fact that there isn't a problem with the knee always has to be met with at least a slight sigh of relief. 

The young rookie struggled out of the gate in his first NBA season, and as a result, is averaging 14.2 points per game on a mediocre 40.7 percent from the field—numbers that don't jump out at you on the surface. 

But he has seemingly gotten better every month.  

In January, Beal averaged 15.1 points on a scorching 50.8 percent shooting from three-point range. In February, he upped his totals to 17.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists to go with 48.1 percent shooting from the field, easily his best month to date.

It appeared as though he was set to do the same in March. On Friday, he poured in 29 points to go with 11 rebounds against the Knicks, and he had another 14 on an efficient 6-of-12 shooting before his injury on Sunday. 

Don't forget that this young man is still just 19 years old. 

Beal has turned into one of the most exciting youngsters in the NBA and appears to be on his way to stardom. While this injury won't stop him from getting there, it's unfortunate to see the train temporarily derail. 

Hi-res-7106878_crop_exact Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

With John Wall back in the lineup over the past month, the Wizards have looked like a future contender in the East, while Wall and Beal have the appearance of the NBA's best young backcourt. 

In Beal's stead, though, it will be Garrett Temple, Trevor Ariza and A.J. Price likely seeing an uptick in minutes. 

Hopefully, the Wizards rookie can get better soon..