A sprained right ankle has sidelined Jalen Brunson since early in the first quarter of the New York Knicks’ loss to the Sacramento Kings—a span of nearly three games. It is not going to sideline him for much longer, if at all.
And woo boy, the Knicks should be grateful this is the case.
Brunson is currently listed as “questionable” for New York’s Monday tilt against the Dallas Mavericks. Prior to the Knicks’ loss at the hands of the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, head coach Mike Brown also reiterated that the team isn’t concerned, and that Brunson remains day-to-day:
Mike Brown was asked tonight if there was concern about Jalen Brunson's ankle sprain. "No. He’s day to day." On Josh Hart, Brown said, "He’s just a little sore so we’re just going to be cautious especially this time of year." Hart is out with right ankle soreness.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) January 17, 2026
Reading between the lines, it seems like Brunson will be a go versus Dallas. He is a gamer, and there’s always a little extra juice flowing against your former team. More than that, the Knicks upgraded him to “questionable’ ahead of Saturday’s loss. Going off his absence after spraining the same ankle earlier this season, two to three games fits the timeline.
This might feel like a little thing. In fact, it’s everything.
The Knicks are as reliant on Jalen Brunson as ever
New York isn’t going to climb out of its descent towards the play-in tournament (seriously) without Brunson. That much has become clear over the past three games.
Brunson remains the all-everything to the Knicks’ machine. Sure, their devolution started before his ankle injury. They are 28th in defense and 22nd in net rating since the NBA Cup. But they are even worse off whenever Brunson isn’t on the floor.
The Knicks’ offense ranks in the 32nd percentile when he’s not on the court. So it should come as no surprise that they dropped all three games in which they were (mostly) without him.
Nor should it be shocking to know that New York’s turnover rate against Phoenix was one of its five highest of the season. Brunson is mission critical to ball protection against average-activity defenses. Surviving without him against try-hard disruptors like the Suns is a fool’s errand.
If the Knicks are going to steer out of their could-be damning skid, it starts with Brunson. No one else is good enough to rescue them. It sure as anything isn’t going to be Karl-Anthony Towns; not with the way he’s playing. Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby are overtaxed when it comes to leveling up from offensive accessories to primaries. Tyler Kolek has yet to prove he’s full-on ready, and is running out of chances to do so.
Yes, this dependence on Brunson should concern the Knicks
For as much as the Knicks were supposed to change under Mike Brown, they are at their core still the same: inextricably tied to Brunson’s skill, and will. That is problematic for obvious reasons—especially when you consider this dependence is now translating to a reversion in how they play.
New York’s defensive ineptitude receives a ton of attention. (Could anybody stay home on shooters? Pretty please?) But the offense is sliding away from Brown’s drive-and-spray ethos, and increasingly leaning on Brunson to make something out of relatively nothing. Not surprisingly once again, more of his baskets are going unassisted since the NBA Cup.
Continuing down this path is not the recipe for title contention. The Knicks need to rediscover their happy medium, and the swagger it evoked. In the meantime, Brunson’s updated injury status is a godsend. He was always the one player they couldn’t live without, but their recent nosedive has obliterated their margin for error, leaving them without only one feasible path back to respectability, if contender status: through him.