Bradley Beal injury: Wizards' rookie done for the season with 'stress injury' in fibula

The season began with a stress injury to one core guard, and it will end with a stress injury to the other.

Bradley Beal's 2012-13 rookie season is over after the Wizards discovered a stress injury in his right fibula. Rehabilitation will take about six weeks, the team announced.

Welp.

It's not clear when Beal suffered the injury, but he did leave the Wizards' game against the Bulls last night after absorbing a blow on a fast-break layup attempt. He said afterwards it was his left ankle that flared up. Via CSN Washington:

"It was bothering me when I was warming up," Beal said of the ankle he originally sprained in a game March 3. "When I had that fall that's really when it started hurting the most. I was definitely favoring it in the second half. I told coach if he sees me limping any time, doing anything not helping the team just take me out. I didn't have a problem with it at all. The moment it happened I was like 'dang.' I didn't roll my ankle. It's just the impact of how I hit that ground that really bothered it."

Where did the fibula stress injury come from, then?

It's a question without an answer now. However, it's fair to ask whether Beal's previous injury woes contributed to this one. Overcompensating when playing through ailments to other body parts is common and often causes injuries elsewhere on the body. Considering that this fibula injury came out of nowhere, it's safe to wonder if Beal made the problem worse by playing through pain.

If that's the case, it's the downside of going all out at the end of a season that's headed for the lottery again. Beal should recover from this injury in time for next season, but it would be really unfortunate if his ankle injury contributed to this fibula problem.

UPDATE: J Michael of CSN Washington confirms the suspicion.

CONFIRMED: Beal's right fibula injury IS connected to playing thru a high rt ankle sprain that he's had for a while, too #WizardsTalk #NBA

— J. Michael(@JMichaelCSN) April 3, 2013