Kristaps Porzingis Suffers Season-Ending ACL Injury Vs. Bucks [VIDEO]

by Pablo MenaFebruary 7, 2018, 2:59 pmDaily Digest, News, Z-Home Slider >

Kristaps Porzingis sustained a brutal ACL tear in the first half of the New York Knicks‘ 103-89 home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, and has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

Kristaps Porzingis injury update

The 22-year-old All-Star forward — whom Kevin Durant nicknamed “the unicorn” — became injured three minutes into the second quarter when he landed on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s foot after converting a dunk. Porzingis had to be helped off the court after he injured his left knee.

Although no timetable for Porzingis’s return was provided, the typical recovery time for this type of tear is about 12 months. Thus, he will likely be out for a good portion of the 2018-19 season.

Several Knicks players expressed their hope that Porzingis — around whom the team has built their offense since the departure of Carmelo Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder — could recover soon.

“More than a basketball player, he’s my brother,” said center Enes Kanter of the 7-foot-3 Latvian star. “I don’t want to see anyone going down like that hurting his knee. He’s about to be an All-Star. I’m just going to pray for him tonight. He is the most important part of our family.”

Knicks teammate Willy Hernangomez, Porzingis’ friend since their days in Spain’s professional league, voiced his support on Twitter:

Porzingis is averaging a team-leading 22.7 points and an NBA-high 2.4 blocks per game this season, as well as 6.7 rebounds. He previously missed two games due to a knee issue and two games because of an ankle injury this season.

The Knicks (23-32, 11th in Eastern Conference) will now likely need to readjust their strategy for the season and play more youngsters like Frank Ntilikina and Trey Burke in their final 27 games.

Porzingis isn’t the only Knick to have suffered an injury recently, however.

Tim Hardaway Jr. left Tuesday’s game after being kneed in the left shin, an area he had already experienced stress in earlier this season. Hardaway’s status for Thursday’s game at Toronto remains unclear, although X-Rays came back negative.

Here are more players around the NBA who wished Porzingis a speedy recovery:

This summer will be the first time Porzingis will be eligible for an extension that is worth at least 25 percent of the Knicks’ salary cap.

Caption:OAKLAND, CA – MARCH 16: Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors tries to steal the ball from Kristaps Porzingis #6 of the New York Knicks at ORACLE Arena on March 16, 2016 in Oakland, California.