Jalen Brunson suffered a right ankle sprain during the New York Knicks overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, March 6. Since then, Knicks fans have been anxiously waiting for an update on their star guard.
According to SNY’s Ian Begley, the initial results of Brunson’s X-Ray are positive. The All-Star guard has no broken bones, which is a best-case scenario for both Brunson and the Knicks organization.
“I don’t know the severity of Jalen Brunson’s ankle injury but the X-ray of the injury last night came back negative, per SNY sources familiar with the matter,” Begley reported. “Initial image showed no broken bones for the All Star guard.”
Before his injury, Brunson was dominating against the Lakers. He ended the night with 39 points, 10 assists and 4 rebounds. He shot 13-of-26 from the field, but struggled from deep, converting at a 14.3% clip. Furthermore, Brunson got to the line at will, sinking 12-of-13 free-throws.
While Begley’s report will allow Knicks fans to breathe a sigh of relief, there is still some uncertainty in regards to the severity of what is likely a sprain and how long Brunson will be sidelined for.
JJ Redick Praises Knicks’ Jalen Brunson
During his postgame news conference, Lakers head coach JJ Redick heaped praise on Brunson’s performance. The rookie head coach noted how Brunson had an ‘answer for everything’ that the Lakers tried to throw his way.
“He had an answer for everything,” Redick said. “He was fantastic tonight. And our guys, in what felt like a playoff game at times, really just gutted out a win.”
Brunson’s ability to score at will again the Lakers was even more impressive due to Los Angeles’ recent defensive dominance. According to Cleaning The Glass, the Lakers hold a league-leading defensive rating over the past two weeks, limiting their opponents to 107.1 points per 100 possessions.
Knicks Miles McBride Struggled Against Lakers
Without Brunson in the rotation, Miles McBride will likely be thrust into a bigger role by Tom Thibodeau. However, the 24-year-old did himself no favors as he struggled to make an impact against the Lakers.
McBride played 21 minutes off New York’s bench. He went 0-of-6 from the field, including 0-of-4 from deep, although he did pull down five rebounds. Cameron Payne didn’t fare much better, going 1-of-6 in his 10 minutes of playing time.
As such, Knicks fans will be justified in their concern for New York’s point guard rotation while Brunson recovers from his ankle injury. Fortunately, the Knicks have been navigating injury setbacks throughout the season, and are well versed in pivoting on the fly.
Nevertheless, the hope must be that Brunson returns well before the postseason begins. After all, he will need to rebuild his fitness and his rhythm. Still, if Brunson is back to full fitness by the time the playoffs arrive, the Knicks will still be a major threat in the Eastern Conference, especially now that Mitchell Robinson is back in the rotation.
The question is, though, can the Knicks get healthy over the next few weeks? If not, they face an uphill battle to make the conference finals. All eyes will be on how Thibodeau manages his team’s minutes distribution moving forward.
