Tony Parker Injury: Updates on Spurs Star's Ankle and Return

Updates from Friday, June 6

Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick has the latest on Parker:

Updates from Tuesday, June 3

Zach Harper of CBS Sports provides quotes from Tony Parker on his Game 1 availability, (translated via the San Antonio Express-News):

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I twisted my ankle in Game 4 of the first round against Dallas. I continued to play with the pain and I again twisted the ankle in Game 4 of the conference finals against Oklahoma City. I gritted my teeth; I did not mean to abandon my teammates. But the pain was too strong in the sixth game. I could not really play anymore.

Today, I spend my days in treatment. But the good news is that I will play the first game of the Finals on Thursday against the Heat. I may not be 100 percent but I'll be there. In 13 years, I played seven conference finals and I have the chance to play my fifth Finals with Spurs. This is really great. I continue my dream, this is really something great.

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The Spurs update Parker's practice availability:

Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News passes along comments from Gregg Popovich:

Updates from Monday, June 2

ESPN's Marc Stein reports the current status for Tony Parker heading into Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals:

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The San Antonio Spurs are expecting to have Tony Parker in the lineup Thursday when they play host to the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, according to sources close to the situation.

The San Antonio Express-News quoted a source Sunday saying that Parker "absolutely" will be ready to play in Game 1 at home against Miami despite an ankle injury that plagued him for much of the Western Conference finals. Yahoo! Sports also had reported that Parker would be ready to play.

One source told ESPN.com on Monday that the Spurs, while insisting there are "no absolutes," are optimistic that the four full days of rehab Parker is poised to get between Saturday's Game 6 of the Oklahoma City series and Thursday's opener against the Heat will be enough to get him healed.

"That is the hope," said the source. 

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Updates from Sunday, June 1

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports provides an update on Tony Parker's status for the NBA Finals, which begins on Thursday, June 5:

Original Text

San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker was forced to leave Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals early after feeling soreness in his left ankle, the team announced:

Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated passed along a postgame update from Gregg Popovich:

As the Austin American-Statesman's Cedric Golden noted, the Spurs have enough breathing room in the series to survive temporarily without Parker:

Parker played 19 minutes before exiting, scoring eight points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field.

It remains to be seen how long Parker will be out, but if the Oklahoma City Thunder are able to force a Game 7 on Monday night, the Spurs will need their veteran floor general to be close to 100 percent in order to have the best chance of advancing to the NBA Finals for the second straight year.

After all, coming into Saturday night's contest, the 32-year-old Parker was averaging 17.8 points and 5.2 assists per game on 48.7 percent shooting from the floor this postseason.

If the Spurs can close out the Thunder in Game 6, Parker will have several days to rest his ankle, as Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals is scheduled for Thursday night.