Pau Gasol injury: Lakers center hurts foot vs. Nets

Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol suffered an apparent foot injury during the fourth quarter of the Lakers' game in Brooklyn against the Nets.

With 4:21 remaining, the Spaniard leaped and landed awkwardly on defense, immediately crumpling to the floor in obvious pain. Gasol tried to play through it, but limped to the locker room just under the four-minute mark. He did not return to the game, and his issue is being called merely an "injured right foot" for the time being. Considering that Gasol appeared to be hurting before he even landed and that he has previously struggled through plantar fasciitis in the same foot, one worries that it's a flare-up of a chronic issue. Scary to see.

Gasol started the game in the absence of Dwight Howard, who remains sidelined with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Any further injuries to the Lakers’ frontcourt would greatly damage their prospects of turning their sub-.500 season around.

UPDATE: Gasol's injury is indeed a plantar fascia strain. He will have an MRI Wednesday in Boston.