Iman Shumpert Injury: Sprained MCL Will Expose Lack of Depth on Knicks Roster

Iman Shumpert made his professional debut for the New York Knicks today, and the rookie guard looked decent until the end of the third quarter. He sprained his MCL as he was getting in position under the basket to rebound a mid-range shot from the Boston Celtics’ Ray Allen.

Unfortunately, as he was making his charge to clean up the glass, a falling Chris Wilcox collided with his legs after being knocked down by Amar’e Stoudemire.

The Celtics ended up with the rebound and eventually scored on an open Brandon Bass jumper, while Shumpert writhed on the floor in pain.

Coach Mike D’Antoni called a timeout immediately after, and players helped their teammate off the floor.

Craig Sager, reporting on the sidelines during the TNT broadcast, later found that it was a sprained MCL and he would be expected to miss at least two weeks.

This is a huge blow for a Knicks team that is already woefully thin at point guard and employed Tony Douglas, Landry Fields and Billy Walker in the backcourt for most of the game.

Mike Bibby and Baron Davis are both injured right now and are expected to miss more time before they are ready to start contributing.

While Shumpert wasn’t spectacular, going for just 11 points on 3-13 shooting with four rebounds and two assists, the fact that he can play the point makes him an asset to this Knicks team.

They barely escaped with a win against the Celtics without Paul Pierce, and going forward, Douglas is going to have to log a ton of minutes per game at point guard until Shumpert is back and Bibby and Baron Davis are ready.

Coach D’Antoni is going to have to get crafty with his lineups to weather this latest storm and plug holes until the injuries are healed up and the Knicks are back to full strength. 

He's extremely lucky his rookie PG didn't suffer a more serious injury, which would have been a major setback to this franchise.