Portland Trail Blazers vs Sacramento Kings

Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) reacts after injuring left hand as the Portland Trail Blazers face the Sacramento Kings at the Moda Center. Bruce Ely / The Oregonian

(Bruce Ely)

TUALATIN - If the Trail Blazers know anything more about LaMarcus Aldridge's left hand injury, they weren't saying much at practice on Tuesday.

"He's at an appointment right now," Portland coach Terry Stotts said at Blazers practice on Tuesday afternoon. "He won't be traveling to Phoenix and hopefully there will be some determination this afternoon as what course of action."

Aldridge was evaluated today by a hand specialist and has a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test scheduled for "later this week" according to the team. The Blazers announced that the they have not established a timetable for Aldridge's return.

Stotts ruled Aldridge out for Wednesday's game against the Suns in Phoenix, but didn't want to speculate on his availability beyond tomorrow's game.

Aldridge appeared suffer the injury when he hit his left thumb on the knee of Kings' center DeMarcus Cousins during the second quarter of Portland's win on Monday night. X-Rays taken on Monday came back negative, but the team provided no further information on the extent of the injury.

The X-Rays revealed no breaks or fractures, but would not likely show if Aldridge suffered ligament damage.

"We'll see what happens," Stotts said. "I don't want to rush to judgment on anything right now."

The Blazers are 3-1 this season without Aldridge in the lineup and were 8-5 last season when he was forced to miss 13 games with a groin injury.

If Aldridge is forced to miss significant time, Damian Lillard said the team is prepared to move forward without its All-Star power forward.

"Last year we were in a similar situation where he sat some games," Lillard said. "We had to play a different style. Earlier this season he sat a few games and we had to switch it up a little bit. We know how we will need to play without him, so I don't think that will be much trouble for us making that adjustment."

Aldridge adds to a growing list of banged up Blazers front court players, joining big men Robin Lopez and Joel Freeland on the injured list. Lopez is out indefinitely with a fractured right hand and Freeland is still recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered on Jan. 4.

Chris Kaman, Thomas Robinson, Meyers Leonard and Dorell Wright are the Blazers remaining healthy big men. But the injury to Aldridge could force Stotts to get creative with his lineups as he did Monday against the Kings, when starting small forward Nicolas Batum played power forward next to Robinson for the entire fourth quarter.

-- Mike Richman

mrichman@oregonian.com | 503-221-8162 | @mikegrich