The New York Knicks have downgraded star Karl-Anthony Towns to doubtful to play in Wednesday night’s season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Charania reports Towns has a quad strain and there’s “increased pessimism” for his status.
The Knicks are already without key players Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson for their season opener against last year’s No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Now, it appears they could also be without Towns in a surprise development to open the 2025-26 season.
Towns is entering his 11th season in the NBA and second with the Knicks. In his inaugural season in New York, he had one of the best seasons of his career.
Town averaged 24.4 points, 12.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists while shooting 52.6 percent from the field, 42.0 percent from deep and 82.9 percent from the free throw line. He earned an All-Star honor and was named to the All-NBA Third Team.
After New York’s strong season in which they reached the Eastern Conference Finals, they made a surprise coaching change, firing Tom Thibodeau and hiring Mike Brown. The Knicks will be implementing a brand new system this season, and thus could have some early-season growing pains. Being without Towns (and Robinson and Hart) to open the season won’t exactly help the cause.
However, since it’s just the first of 82 games, the Knicks will likely exercise caution with Towns. The last thing they need is for the quad injury to linger all season long, so they will likely be extremely careful in rushing him back.
The Knicks still have plenty of star power, headlined by Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges. However, they’ll be short in the frontcourt without Robinson and potentially Towns. The other big men on the roster are Ariel Hukporti and Trey Jemison III.
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