New York Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson rolled his ankle during his team’s 124-107 loss to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. While ankle sprains are everyday occurrences in the NBA, Brunson’s injury is reportedly a “legitimate” one that could sideline him for an extended period.
According to SNY’s Ian Begley, a league source backed up The Athletic’s reporting that Brunson left Madison Square Garden on crutches and a protective boot.
“We don’t know the specific injury or the severity of the injury, but the Knicks left MSG knowing that Brunson had suffered a legitimate injury,” Begley wrote.
“Oftentimes, you don’t know the true severity of an injury until the player wakes up the next morning. Maybe Brunson wakes up on Thursday feeling great. But he left Wednesday’s game like a player who knew he was hurt.”
Is Mike Brown to Blame?
Further to Begley’s report that Brunson left the game like a player “who knew he was hurt,” the southpaw guard intentionally fouled Magic guard Jalen Suggs to check himself out of the game, knowing that he couldn’t brave through the injury.
“Rather than going back to the Knicks bench, Brunson went directly to the Knicks locker room,” added Begley.
Some analysts have blamed Knicks head coach Mike Brown for keeping Jalen Brunson on the court when the game was already lost. Brunson rolled his ankle with 1:52 left in the fourth quarter when the Knicks were down 16.
Brunson Had Similar Injury Last Year
It’s worth noting that the Knicks captain missed two weeks of action when he suffered an ankle sprain during the 2024-25 season.
The one positive thing for the Knicks is that they have several backup guards like Jordan Clarkson, Miles McBride and Landry Shamet to fill in for Brunson during his absence. This wasn’t the case last year, when the roster was extremely thin in depth.
Brunson’s injury coincided with the Knicks having their five-game winning streak (and 7-0 home record) snapped on Wednesday night. Many gave the Knicks a pass, as they were playing the second night of a back-to-back after their game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday. However, Brown refused to make excuses for the loss.
“Nah, we’re a no-excuse team and if we’re a no-excuse team, we’ve gotta go play the right way as best we can and not lay the blame any place else except square on us,” Brown said after the loss, via Ian Begley.
“So it doesn’t matter if we play three games in a row, we’ve gotta go figure it out, and if we can’t, maybe I need to go deeper into the bench and play guys lesser minutes. Maybe that’s where I can help them, but we can’t sit here and say. ‘We played last night and they did this.’ No, go win the game, play the right way, leave it on the floor, and if you leave it on the floor the right way, you’re not gonna win them all, then you’ll take an L and move onto the next one. I just didn’t think we did a great job doing what we’re supposed to do to set the tone, especially at the beginning of the game.”
The Knicks (7-3) will next host the Miami Heat on Friday night.
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