RJ Barrett Suffers Ankle Injury in Knicks' Loss vs. Nuggets
New York Knicks star RJ Barrett suffered an ankle injury in Tuesday's loss to the Denver Nuggets, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters.
Barrett played 35 minutes and scored 18 points in the 132-115 loss. He sat for a while before being brought back into the game as the Knicks chipped into the lead.
"He sat most of the fourth, we got it down to 13, and we wanted to see if we could make a run," Thibodeau explained when asked why Barrett was reinserted into the game.
The 21-year-old's performance mirrors the Knicks as a whole this season.
Barrett averaged 17.6 points and 5.8 rebounds while shooting 40.1 percent from beyond the arc last year. He played a big role in New York winning 41 games and making the playoffs for the first time since 2013.
Through 47 games in 2021-22, the third-year wing is averaging 18.0 points, but his efficiency has dipped slightly. He's shooting 41.3 percent from the field and 34.7 from three-point territory, down from 44.1 and 40.1 percent, respectively.
The Knicks, meanwhile, are 12th in the Eastern Conference at 24-31.
Things took a turn following a 5-1 start. The starting five has been a mess for most of the year, which led head coach Tom Thibodeau to drop Kemba Walker from the rotation entirely.
Barrett entered the NBA's COVID-19 protocols in mid-December, at which point Thibodeau turned to Quentin Grimes to take his place in the lineup. That might be the plan once again with the Duke product unavailable.
This could open the door for Cam Reddish to occupy a larger role in the rotation as well, having starred little since his trade from the Atlanta Hawks.
