With their matchup against the Golden State Warriors rapidly approaching, Jalen Brunson has officially been ruled out by the New York Knicks with an ankle sprain.
Initially rolling his ankle on Thursday, March 6th, game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Brunson's status has been one of the key storylines to follow for New York hoops heads over the past week, with the play of his backup Deuce McBride following close behind. With Brunson now officially out for the contest against one of the best guards in the game, Stephen Curry, and his very interesting Warriors in a post-Jimmy Butler trade world, all eyes will be on McBride once more to see if he can further stack his resume down the stretch.
Since coming over from the Dallas Mavericks in one of the most eyebrow-raising moves of the last NBA decade – which is, unfortunately, becoming a common occurrence for the Mavs fans at this point – Brunson has appeared in 206 regular season games for the Knicks, missing just 26 games over his first two seasons with the team. While some wear and tear is to be expected from a smaller guard, especially for guards who plays as physically as Brunson, he's held up quite well all things considered, what with Tom Thibodeau already having played the guard 433 more minutes and counting than his Mavericks run despite appearing in 71 fewer regular season games.
When will Brunson return to the court for the Knicks? Frankly, it's hard to say, as every ankle injury is different, and the return time changes too. With that being said, his not playing vs. the Warriors wouldn't be news if he wasn't close to a return, so who knows, maybe the Knicks will have their All-Star guards back a few weeks before the playoffs, when the team will need his hard-nosed style of play and leadership most of all.