The 3 New York Knicks Players Who Need to Step Up During Jalen Brunson's Absence

It was a tough weekend for the New York Knicks. They started their five-game trip along the West Coast with a back-to-back in Los Angeles, and things went sideways immediately. Despite maintaining a significant lead for most of Thursday's game against the Lakers, they lost in overtime where Jalen Brunson went down with an ankle injury.

Brunson landed on Austin Reaves' foot, suffering a brutal ankle sprain that sent him back to the locker room after shooting two free throws. Although the injury looked daunting for NY's captain, initial reports indicate that Brunson dodged the worst and will be reevaluated in two weeks. On Friday, the struggling Knicks managed to score only 95 points in an ugly loss to the Clippers.

It has been a tough stretch of three consecutive losses for the team, and they still have three more road trips out West. However, every tragedy has its silver lining. For Tom Thibodeau, this allows other guys to get more minutes and regain confidence as the playoffs approach. If Brunson can return healthy, his injury could end up benefiting the Knicks.

Mikal Bridges

The buzz surrounding Mikal Bridges' brutal last month has grown louder, and rightfully so. Knicks fans are frustrated with his recent lack of offensive aggressiveness, especially considering the five first-round picks they sent to Brooklyn to acquire him. Before the Friday game, Bridges had scored over 15 points only once in his last 12 games, with single-digit scoring in that span. The real surprising aspect of Bridges' struggles has been his reluctance to draw contact in the paint. His free throw average is ridiculously low: 1.1 attempts per game, down from 3.9 last year. The former Net seems hesitant to attack the rim and settles for jumpers, even when he has a size and strength mismatch.

Even with Brunson in the lineup, Bridges' production won't be enough if NY plans to make a deep playoff run. They traded their future for him, and he needs to be an elite player and a legitimate third option to justify the price. Fortunately, Brunson's injury should force his Villanova teammate to increase his usage and be more aggressive. We saw the initial results of this concept in the loss to LAC, where Bridges scored 22 points on 8/12 shooting and 6 for 6 from the charity stripe. Bridges can still be even more aggressive, as he only attempted 12 shots and one from three, which won't cut it as the primary scorer. However, it was a step in the right direction.

We all know Mikal can create his own shot at a high volume. This season alone, he scored 41 points on Christmas Day and has had 22 games of over 20 points. Two years ago, he averaged 26.1 points per night in 27 games with Brooklyn. It seems like he's lost some confidence in his new reduced role. However, this stretch will give him the opportunity to regain it.

Miles McBride

Before Brunson went down in Los Angeles, there had been weeks of talk that Miles McBride deserved a more prominent role. I've been campaigning for him to take some of Josh Hart's minutes as Hart's shooting slump erodes NY's spacing. McBride is the best shooter on the Knicks and the best perimeter defender. There is no reason he shouldn't be averaging around 20 minutes, even when Brunson returns.

Well, now Thibodeau will be forced to give him significant minutes. He played 33 and a half minutes against the Clippers and struggled as the starting point guard, going 2 for 13 from the field. Regardless, McBride deserves a shot at earning a larger role in the playoffs, and this is a perfect opportunity to see if he has what it takes. The game results don't matter much with NY comfortably in the third spot. New York should also use him less as the primary playmaker and more as an off-ball scorer, as he will be when Brunson returns. Hart, Bridges, and Tyler Kolek should also get reps bringing the ball up the floor.

Karl-Anthony Towns

Karl-Anthony Towns is Brunson's partner, his second option. Although much of Towns' offense comes from his pick-and-roll pairing with JB and the spacing Brunson creates, he needs to ramp up the intensity while the captain is out. The Knicks need a much higher volume from KAT during this stretch if they have any hope of winning games. Towns is in the midst of a rather tough stretch of four games, averaging 16.3 points on 37.5% shooting. New York will need closer to 30 points per night to stay afloat without Brunson.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Los 3 jugadores de New York Knicks que tienen que dar un paso al frente durante la ausencia de Jalen Brunson