Kristaps Porzingis rolled his ankle in the New York Knicks’ game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. What is his status for the remainder of the game?
Big men and foot issues. It’s never a good thing. On Thursday night, New York Knicks star unicorn Kristaps Porzingis had to leave the game with an ankle injury. It was the Knicks’ first game after the All-Star Break on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Porzingis was seen limping off the Quicken Loans Arena court, heading into the visitor’s locker room. What is the status of Porzingis for the rest of the ball game?
Kristaps Porzingis has a sprained right ankle. He is questionable to return.
— NY_KnicksPR (@NY_KnicksPR) February 24, 2017
Given how important that Porzingis is to the overall health of the Knicks franchise, it would be pragmatic for the Knicks to keep him out for the rest of the ball game. No basketball team needs a seven-footer that can shoot threes hobbling around on a bum ankle.
Frankly, it would not be shocking to see the Knicks take extra precaution the rest of the way to ensure that nothing bad will come of this abrupt ankle injury for Porzingis. New York entered Thursday night’s game against the Cavaliers in 12th place in the Eastern Conference at 23-34.
With only 24 games remaining after this one, it looks highly unlikely that the Knicks will even qualify for the Eastern Conference Playoffs as the No. 8 seed. New York is currently four games back of the eighth place Detroit Pistons (27-30) in the Eastern Conference standings.
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Let’s not say that the Knicks should outright punt the rest of the season, as they aren’t going to finish with a worse record than the nine-win Brooklyn Nets. However, the most important thing the Knicks can do is make sure that Porzingis doesn’t have any complications from this ankle injury.