Wizards center Brendan Haywood suffered a sprained ankle in the team's preseason loss to the Mavericks on Friday night.

Less than three minutes into the game, Haywood was writhing on the floor in pain and holding his right ankle.

"When Brendan went down, I'm not going to lie -- I was scared," forward Andray Blatche told the Washington Times. "I thought, 'Oh, not again.' "

Haywood left the game and did not return.

"He's a big factor on this team," guard DeShawn Stevenson said. "Hopefully he's all right and we'll get him back, but we can't afford to lose him out there."