'Everything's on the Table': Knicks Prepare to Deal With Jalen Brunson's Painful Sunday
It just wouldn't be New York Knicks basketball if the worst news the modern team could possibly face wasn't attached to a legitimate, prominent sign of progress.
New York (14-13) reached several landmarks in Sunday's 112-99 win over the Sacramento Kings: the team has a winning record for the first time in nearly a month and earned its longest winning streak of the season at four, all but one of those tallies coming against competition in their conference's top eight.
Alas, the trip out of Madison Square Garden was made bittersweet by the medically-induced departure of Jalen Brunson. The Knicks' nine-figure man left the game with just over nine minutes remaining in regulation, his ankle caught under Davion Mitchell when the Sacramento starter rolled up on it during a drive.
Sunday was anything but a day of rest for the Knicks' primary point guard: MSG held its breath in the second quarter when Brunson landed hard on his hip while going for two against Keegan Murray. A technical foul for head coach Tom Thibodeau, demanding a call against Murray, perhaps bought Brunson enough of a reprieve to say in the game, and he responded with 18 points, three assists and rebounds each, and two steals. Though Brunson lost a season-worst five turnovers, New York was plus-17 when he was on the floor.
The Knicks held their own against the surging Kings (14-11) with both Brunson and the ejected Julius Randle removed from the game. RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson became the headliners of the latter stages, the former's 27-points, nine-rebound, six-assist performance being particularly impressive. But, in the victorious aftermath, the team had to deal with inevitable questions about where they stand without Brunson.
Thibodeau declared that Brunson had a sprained ankle and hinted that fans shouldn't get their hopes up when it comes to his status for Wednesday's game in Chicago, the first of consecutive showdowns with the Bulls (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG/ESPN).
“I don’t know (if he’ll play on Wednesday),” Thibodeau said, per the New York Daily News. “To be totally honest, we’ll see where he is tomorrow. I’ll get a further update from the medical team when I get back in the locker room.”
Brunson has been no stranger to early visits to MSG's locker room, but it appears as if this one will take a little longer to recover from.
The Brunson injury and the uncertainty surrounding it adds yet another foil to Thibodeau's quest to find the perfect nine-man combination. While the active winning streak hints that Thibodeau could be closing in on the perfect matches, two of the regulars of his latest attempt have been lost: New York previously learned that it would be without reserve forward Obi Toppin for at least two weeks.
Despite this, Thibodeau has continued to keep Evan Fournier, Cam Reddish, and Derrick Rose on his bench, even as the Knicks have conjured together healthy victories: all four wins have come by double-figures, the first time they've formed a streak like that since April 2021.
Jericho Sims broke through to earn eight minutes on Sunday, working on the second unit with Isaiah Hartenstein. But the big man is obviously not the solution to the hole Brunson leaves in the frontcourt. Thibodeau was relatively mum about his replacement plan for Brunson, who has lived up to his $104 million billing to the tune of 20.1 points and a team-best 6.3 assists per game.
"Everything is on the table. That’s why you have a team.”
As it stands, the primary options to take over would be Immanuel Quickley and Miles McBride. Along with Brunson, Quickley is one of five Knicks to partake in all 27 games this season, a number that will likely dwindle to four if Thibodeau's projections ring true. The sophomore McBride has turned himself into an indispensable defensive prescience and has averaged nearly 24 minutes over the past three games, up from seven during the entire month of November.
Quickley, a Knicks fan favorite who has been subject to his own brand of rumors, had no interest in discussing a new opportunity, choosing instead to focus on Brunson's workman-like effort.
"My guy is hurt, man, so I'm not really worried about who's starting and who's not," Quickley said in video from SNY. "My teammate is down. That's all we're really worried about, is getting him healthy."
“(I) just went and talked to him in the locker room. He was in good spirits,” Quickley, he of 12 points on Sunday, continued. “He’s a tough dude. That’s who he’s been for us all year. Whether it’s been scoring, falling on the floor, getting back up, defense, he’s been a big part of our team.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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