[ad_1]
The Knicks have not altered their preliminary diagnosis of RJ Barrett’s injury as a sprained right knee, officially ruling him out of Sunday’s season finale against the Raptors.
The 21-year-old Barrett finishes his third NBA season with a scoring average of 20.0 points per game for the first time, a goal he had stated multiple times in recent months.
Barrett, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, was slated to be reevaluated Saturday after leaving Friday’s win in Washington just before halftime due to the injury. The former Duke star is eligible this summer for a rookie max contract extension up to $181 million.
Asked Friday night if he was concerned the injury could be more serious than a sprain, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters: “I worry about everything. I don’t like to see any one of our players get injured, but it’s part of the game. He’s got soreness right now, and obviously, he’ll be out [on Sunday].”
With both players sidelined against the Raptors, Barrett and Julius Randle (20.1 ppg) will finish as the first Knicks teammates since Bill Cartwright and Ray Williams in 1979-80 to average at least 20 points over a full season.
Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire averaged more than 20 points apiece for the Knicks in 2010-11, but Anthony only played 27 games with the team that year following a midseason trade from Denver.
Second-year guard Immanuel Quickley is averaging 15.5 points, 4.6 assists and 5.1 rebounds in 21 games since Feb. 27 after posting a 23-10-6 stat line in 36 minutes in Friday’s win over the Wizards. It marked his second 10-assist game over his past three appearances.
“Individually, I feel like I’ve done pretty well, can always do better. Never perfect, always striving to do better,” Quickey said. “We got one game left and I want to focus on that one, but definitely in the summer I want to continue to strive to get better in every way I can and get stronger, and things like that.”
Mitchell Robinson (non-COVID illness), Quentin Grimes (knee) and Miles McBride (knee) have been listed as questionable for Sunday’s game. Randle, Nerlens Noel (foot) and Derrick Rose (ankle surgery) remain out. Noel will end up missing the final 28 games since Feb. 7 and Rose will have missed 53 consecutive games since Dec. 16.
[ad_2]