Jalen Brunson exited the Knicks’ loss to the Kings after spraining his right ankle in the first quarter

New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson left Wednesday’s game against the Sacramento Kings early in the first quarter after spraining his right ankle, missing the remainder of what would become a 112-101 Kings victory.

Four minutes into the game at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Brunson dribbled into the frontcourt, taking a block from teammate Josh Hart to force a switch that would allow him to isolate against rookie center Maxime Raynaud. When the point guard began attacking, however, he fell to the floor and threw the ball away, prompting a stolen, fast-break dunk from former Knicks teammate Precious Achiuwa.

Brunson stood up and remained in the game, but moved cautiously through subsequent possessions before asking to exit the game with 7:01 left in the first quarter. He went back to the locker room and that was it; the Knicks would later list him as questionable to return to the game, before ruling him out entirely early in the third quarter. He would finish with four points on 2-of-3 shooting in five minutes of floor time.

Announcement

This marks the second right ankle injury of the season for Brunson, who missed two games in November after losing to the Orlando Magic. He suffered a more serious sprain of the same ankle during a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers last season – an injury that kept him on the sidelines for nearly a month, costing him 15 games.

The Knicks did not have an official update on Brunson’s status following the loss, according to ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill. According to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic, he emerged from the visiting locker room without the aid of crutches or walking boots; he didn’t have a limp, according to Newsday’s Steve Popper.

Brunson, 29, is eighth in the NBA in scoring at 28.2 points per game and 21st in assists at 6.1 per game, shooting 48.1 percent from the field, 38.8 percent from 3-point range and 85.2 percent from the free throw line. He is expected to earn his third consecutive All-Star selection when rosters are announced later this month.

Announcement

The Knicks, who are in second place in the Eastern Conference at 25-15, are 1-2 without him this season. During his lengthy absence last season, they went 9-6, with Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby all averaging more than 20 points per game and shouldering an increased offensive workload.

With Brunson unavailable, New York’s offense collapsed against the Kings, with the Knicks shooting just 39 percent from the floor and 8-of-41 (19.5 percent) from 3-point range en route to their fourth-least efficient offensive performance of the season, according to Cleaning the Glass. The loss was the Knicks’ sixth in their last eight games, continuing a prolonged slump that saw them finish 7-8 with the NBA’s second-worst defense since winning the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup last month. New York travels to San Francisco on Thursday to face the Golden State Warriors on the second night of a back-to-back.