Jalen Brunson’s left wrist is no longer the Knicks’ looming concern. After surgery in July, he has been cleared for camp, and that gives New York the kind of clean start it needed after a championship run.
That matters because Brunson was dealing with wrist pain all the way through the postseason and still managed to take home Finals MVP. The Knicks don’t need him testing his toughness in October. They need him on the floor, healthy, and building back into rhythm with the same core that finished the job in June.
Brunson’s production is exactly why the wrist update carries so much weight. He averaged 28.4 points in the playoff run and put up 45 in the Finals clincher against San Antonio. The offense runs through him, and if that wrist had still been an issue, Mike Brown would have been facing a much trickier opening to camp.
Brown said the wrist was painful during the run, so the clearance changes the tone immediately. It shifts the conversation from recovery to preparation. That does not mean the Knicks have to treat every day like a full-speed ramp-up, only that the medical question is no longer hanging over practice.
For New York, the next step is straightforward: let Brunson handle the ball, get his work in with teammates, and move toward opening night without any declared restriction. And there’s a smart way to handle the rest of camp, too. It makes more sense to guard his minutes in preseason games that don’t count than to ask the Finals MVP to keep proving he’s ready.
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Knicks Face A Costly Core Decision With Miles McBride Looming
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Brown said he trusts Leon Rose and McBrides representatives to sort through the details, while also acknowledging he does not really understand how the cap works. It is a familiar divide for a contender trying to keep its core intact: the front office handles the math, the coaches manage the basketball, and for now the Knicks are left hoping the two sides line up before the situation gets any more complicated. [Read more 🡒]