Deron dealing with ankle injury

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Deron Williams missed practice Friday as he deals with a ankle injury that coach Avery Johnson said isn't serious.

The All-Star point guard was sent to the doctor and was diagnosed with left ankle synovitis, meaning some tissue in the area is inflamed. He received an injection to help alleviate the issue, and Johnson expects to hold Williams out of Saturday's practice as well, though he thinks he'll return to the court by Monday.

"We don’t think it’s anything serious," Johnson said Friday at the PNY Center. "Just a case of tendinitis. So, he’ll be out tomorrow for practice and we anticipate having him back Sunday or Monday. The reason why I say Sunday or Monday is because we were initially going to take Monday off.

"But because of this impending storm, we may have to practice Sunday and then keep our guys in on Monday."

Johnson said Williams felt the injury flare up after Wednesday's preseason finale against the Knicks at Nassau Coliseum. However, it's not something new.

"It’s been a little bit bothering him off and on, but he didn’t think much of it," Johnson said. "Obviously, it was more in the offseason and every now and then, it’ll act up on him. But it didn’t limit him in practice or anything. But we’ve just been icing it. We sent him to the doctor, he checked him out and saw a little mild tendinitis in there.

"Hopefully, this treatment program that he’s on will help him and he’ll be ready to go in the next 24-48 hours."

Asked if could linger, Johnson said: "It may be something that we may have to manage. We’ll see what happens after the next couple of days."

Johnson doesn't think it will hinder Williams' preparation for the season

"Sure, we’d love to have him for practice," Johnson said, "but at the same time, we know Deron is going to be ready, He’s played all summer. He knows what he’s doing on the floor. Actually, it was great today because it gave Tyshawn [Taylor] a chance to practice the whole practice and C.J. [Watson] had missed time in practice. They didn’t have a substitute. 

"The playing time for those guys was beneficial."

Joe Johnson didn't seem worried about Williams' injury throwing things off in practice for a team still searching for that cohesion.

"We’ve got pelnty of time for him to recover and get back to work," Johnson said. "That’s not a worry of ours. We know Deron is going to be Ok and we just wish to get him back out there as soon as possible."

Williams wasn't the only one held out of practice.

Josh Childress (left ankle), Andray Blatche (flu) and Keith Bogans (right knee/tailbone) also didn't practice. Blatche tried to go, but Avery Johnson wouldn't allow it.

"He came in yesterday for a workout and he was really, really under the weather," Johnson said. "So we sent him home yesterday, he came back today and had to send him back again."