Knicks' Jalen Brunson Day-to-Day with Foot Injury; X-Rays Negative

New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson was ruled out for Saturday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers with a sore left foot, the franchise announced Friday.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau said Saturday that X-rays were negative on the injury, which is being called a bruise. The coach said the guard is considered day-to-day.

Brunson exited Thursday's 122-117 loss to the Sacramento Kings after re-aggravating his foot injury in the first half. He notched 19 points, two rebounds and two assists before exiting.

"He just reaggravated it, but I haven't talked to the medical people yet," Thibodeau told reporters after the game. "Just soreness. We've got to let the medical people do their job."

After Thursday's game, ESPN's Brian Windhorst classified Brunson's injury as "worrisome on a couple levels" as the Knicks are in the thick of the playoff race and because the point guard hasn't said publicly how he injured his foot.

"First of all, he's not really sure, at least he has not said publicly, how he initially injured this foot," Windhorst said. "... It's not even 100 percent clear what he does here that re-injures it, and that's what makes you worry."

Saturday's game will only be the seventh Brunson has missed this season.

The 26-year-old missed two games against the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Hornets earlier this week because of the foot ailment. He also missed three games in December with a sore hip and was ruled out of a Feb. 2 matchup against the Miami Heat because of illness.

The 2022-23 season has been the heaviest workload of Brunson's five-year career. Prior to becoming New York's starting point guard, the 2018 second-round pick spent much of his career as a backup to Luka Donćić with the Dallas Mavericks and had never started more than 61 games in a season.

Brunson has already surpassed that mark this season, starting 62 of the 63 games he has appeared in.

That said, he's also having the best season of his career, averaging 23.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 6.1 assists while shooting 48.7 percent from the floor and 41.4 percent from deep.

With Brunson sidelined, the Knicks will turn to Immanuel Quickley, Derrick Rose and Miles McBride to pick up the slack against the Clippers.

The Knicks currently sit fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 39-29 record, 10 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Bucks.