Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson sustained a right ankle injury late in the fourth quarter of a lopsided home loss to Orlando on Wednesday and was seen wearing a walking boot on his right foot and using crutches as he exited Madison Square Garden, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.
The injury occurred with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Brunson drove into the lane and attempted to go up for a shot, but his right ankle turned when he attempted to plant it (video link). He fell to the court in pain and immediately grabbed at his right leg, but was able to shoot his free throws before checking out of the game for good.
Brunson didn’t speak to reporters after the loss and head coach Mike Brown didn’t have an update on the star guard’s status, so it’s not yet clear whether the injury will force him to miss time.
Since arriving in New York in 2022, Brunson has been quite durable, appearing in at least 65 regular season games in each of his three seasons with the Knicks. However, as Bondy points out, the 29-year-old missed roughly a month near the end of the 2024/25 season after badly spraining the same ankle.
Bondy also notes that the situation in which Brunson injured his ankle on Wednesday opens up Brown to some criticism. After former Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau made a habit of leaving his starters in games that seemed out of reach, Brown told reporters during training camp that he wouldn’t be afraid to “throw the towel in early” in those scenarios in order to keep his best players as fresh and healthy as possible.
The Knicks were trailing by 16 points when Brunson suffered the injury with 1:54 left to play.
And dowwwwn goes the knicks season!!! No wonder Al was so mad at the Warriors for clamping Wemby.
For the record, I am not celebrating his injury. That stinks. I want Brunson healthy so Steph can cook his team for winning clutch POY over him, when Steph deserved it more for being better in late/close games (clutch).
Knicks best player out for a extended time means Towns needs to step up big and be the leader of the team.
Sad but this could a blessing in disguise for the Knicks, they need to be able to play without Brunson
Absolutely no reason why he was in the game down 15 with less than 2 minutes to play. I get you have competition and stuff, but his is reckless and malpractice at it’s best. When I saw the injury live, it didn’t look good. Hoping JB comes back from it and is his productive self rest of the year, even if they are Knicks lol.