Deuce McBride injury update comes with a catch Knicks fans know all too well

Deuce McBride appears to have avoided disaster after the New York Knicks listed him as “questionable” for their game against the Houston Rockets. Yet, given this team’s track record for being less-than-forthcoming with injury updates, fans know better than to take this at face value.

Sure, there is some level of relief under the circumstances. McBride appeared to reach for his groin area after hitting the floor with Lu Dort midway through the third quarter of New York’s Sunday night loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Between him having undergone core muscle/sports hernia surgery in February and head coach Mike Brown’s lack of information after the game, nightmare scenarios abounded. 

It is objectively great news that the Knicks aren’t announcing a season-ending setback for a player they can’t afford to lose. Still, “not declaring Deuce done for the year” is an incredibly low bar to clear. Listing him as “questionable” with the same designation as before leaves open a wide-array of possibilities, ranging from innocuous to disastrous. We can’t know for sure. 

That’s the problem.

The Knicks have already flubbed Deuce McBride injury updates

Remember when the Knicks first announced McBride would be going under the knife? It was just after they had acquired Jose Alvarado at the trade deadline. More notably, it came after McBride missed five games with what New York termed “left ankle management.”

Now, I’m no doctor, but sports hernia and core injuries do not occur in the ankles. This is, as the kids say (I think), extremely sus.

It would be one thing if the Knicks didn’t have enough information. And to their credit, McBride did previously miss time because of his left ankle. But he underwent an MRI for the sports hernia on January 29. They didn’t announce the results or prognosis for more than a week. 

Though the U.S.’s medical system can often move with the urgency of a three-toed sloth, pro sports teams aren’t subject to the same logistical hurdles. And even if they were, this timeline still doesn’t add up.

Knicks fans still need to hold their breath

Deuce could be out of the woods, as the update implies. Or the Knicks could be withholding more unsavory intel. Or they might still be in the information-gathering stage. Or they might just be figuring out how to proceed. 

Shoot, this may not even be a core muscle or sports hernia issue. New York could just view that as a convenient cover in the interim. 

We just don’t know. With the Knicks, we never do. Their penchant for information obfuscation means anything and everything is on the table, good or bad, pleasantly surprising or hopelessly horrifying.

All fans can do in the meantime is cross their fingers that McBride actually escaped disaster. Nobody else on the roster brings his combination of three-point volume and efficiency and defensive utility. Surviving without him is difficult in a vacuum. It gets even harder when Landry Shamet (knee) is sidelined, and Jose Alvarado is verging on unplayable.

If Deuce’s “questionable” designation is any indication, the Knicks may not be without him for long. If their past handling of injury updates is rearing its head again, though, we have no idea what comes next.