The future of the New York Knicks and Kristaps Porzingis is in serious jeopardy following a nasty knee injury on Tuesday night.
Medical Update: An MRI confirmed that Kristaps Porzingis tore the ACL in his left knee.
— NY_KnicksPR (@NY_KnicksPR) February 7, 2018
According to the New York Knicks, an MRI confirmed that Kristaps Porzingis tore the ACL in his left knee. Porzingis came down awkwardly after posterizing Giannis Antetokounmpo, and he immediately grabbed his knee. It looked bad at the time, but it’s always tough to speculate just how bad these injuries actually are.
It turns out this was the worst-case scenario for New York.
The entire city is on notice. Kristaps Porzingis' left knee is in serious doubt. #Knicks pic.twitter.com/4uYzy8x5SH
— Elite Sports NY (@EliteSportsNY) February 7, 2018
Devastating, brutal, and tough to watch are three things that come to mind when describing this injury. The Knicks were going to need a herculean effort down the stretch in order to sneak into a playoff spot, but this will all but seal New York’s fate as trade deadline sellers. There’s no reason to attack a playoff spot now because even with KP, it was destined to be an uphill battle.
Courtney Lee, Willy Hernangomez, Kyle O’Quinn, and who else? There’s sure to be some movement from the Knicks front office, but it will be interesting to see what angle they take. Could this injury be an opportunity for Hernangomez to get another tryout and carve out a role after seemingly doing just that last season?
Things are up in the air and the trade deadline is fewer than two days away. The Knicks front office has a lot of important decisions to make in a short period of time.
The immediate future is in limbo, but no more than the long-term future of the organization. After KP’s lightning fast start and first All-Star selection, it looked like the Knicks had their centerpiece. Now, the future is uncertain. It’s hard to predict how long The Unicorn will be sidelined for, but this injury has the potential to hamper the Knicks playoff aspirations for this season and in their 2018-2019 campaign. This is the worst-case scenario for the organization.
