NBA Rumors: Jalen Brunson avoids catastrophic, season-ending knee injury

NBA Rumors: New York Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson has avoided a catastrophic knee injury; though, he could still miss some time.

Over the last few weeks, the New York Knicks have just been trying to survive in the Eastern Conference standings. They've been decimated by injuries of late and while they have a high ceiling as a roster, they can't seem to catch a break. Although, they may have finally done so Sunday night.

In a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jalen Brunson took a bad fall in which it appeared he had suffered a bad non-contact knee injury. The initial reaction was exactly what you would've thought. However, toward the end of the game, there was some hope that perhaps the injury wasn't as bad as it looked.

After the game, it didn't take long for Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau to calm the fears of fans. He confirmed that Brunson had suffered a knee contusion. While there's still a chance he misses some time, all based on how his knee reacts in the next few days once treatment begins, it's 100 percent better than the non-contact injury that some believed had happened. Had that been the case, Brunson likely misses the remainder of the season, at least, and probably the start of next year too.

All in all, as long as everything continues to check out, it seems that Brunson avoided a disastrous injury. Not only for him individually, as he continues to play some of the best basketball of his career, but also from a team perspective. If the Knicks are going to make any kind of noise in the Eastern Conference playoffs, they're going to need a fully healthy Brunson. Missing the rest of the season likely would've eliminated the Knicks from being any type of big player in the playoffs.

The New York Knicks have been decimated by injuries

As a whole, New York has been limited this calendar year because of injuries. During the month of January, the Knicks very much looked like a team that could transform into an East contender by the time the playoffs came around. However, after injuries to OG Anunoby and Julius Randle, and now Brunson, the Knicks have been struggling to stay among the top 5 teams in the East standings.

Even though there's renewed hope that the Knicks will be as close to 100 percent healthy as they possibly can once the playoffs arrive, their season could ultimately be determined by how they survive in the standings over the next few weeks. And that will be an even more difficult test if Brunson does end up missing a week or two with this knee contusion.