What Kristaps Porzingis’ ACL injury means for the Knicks, fans, and the rest of the NBA

Kristaps Porzingis ran past the free-throw line to throw his defender off, then jolted for a back cut towards the rim for a dunk in the second quarter of the Knicks’ game against the Bucks Tuesday night. He flashed the type of agility that helped popularize the “Unicorn” nickname in his rookie season. This type of play has become a staple in his third season in the league, and nobody was catching him on his way to the rim.

Except fate.

Porzingis immediately collapsed to the floor, holding a fist in the air while ducking his head into his armpit. He pounded the ground three times. He knew how bad this injury was the second gravity pulled him back to ground.

Hours later, an MRI confirmed Porzingis had torn his ACL — less than two weeks before he was set to debut in his first NBA All-Star Game and defend his skills challenge title. His name joins the likes of DeMarcus Cousins (torn Achilles), Kevin Love (broken hand), and John Wall (knee surgery), who will miss the game. All were supposed to play for LeBron James’ team.

What a terrible night for Porzingis, New Yorkers, and the NBA as a whole in a year that’s been defined by its season-ending injuries ever since Gordon Hayward on opening night.

This sucks.

Porzingis is the light at the end of an extremely long, dark, vile, filled-with-bats tunnel for Knicks fans who have survived the Isiah Thomas era, the Phil Jackson era and everything before and in between. Trading the franchise’s most recent superstar, Carmelo Anthony, was only tolerable because of Porzingis’ growing celebrity and promising future.

Now he may sit for close to — if not — a full year. That means a whole lot of losing will follow.

We know how athletes fair after ACL injuries, and we’ve seen players recover to full strength. Porzingis could very well follow suit. But this marks a major injury on top of all the minor ones he’s already suffered in three seasons. He missed 10 games in his first season, 16 the next, and will miss 34 this season. With Porzingis eligible for a contract extension this summer, this has to weigh on the minds of the Knicks’ front office at least a little.

Aside from the aforementioned financial implications of this injury, this recovery process is a long one. Jabari Parker is just returning from an ACL tear he suffered nearly a full 12 months ago. Porzingis may have a similar recovery time, meaning he’s probably going to miss the beginning of the 2018-19 season.

He’s been eager to make the playoffs (which looks highly unlikely now). If he misses half of next season, it’ll be difficult then too.

After four straight seasons of missing the playoffs, the Knicks were trying to crack the East’s top eight. Now without their best player, and two days before the trade deadline, they’re in prime tank position to blow this team up and chase a top pick in the draft.

Even if the Knicks do try and string a playoff-caliber team from any deadline trade, another superstar is gone for the season, and that sucks. Porzingis, Cousins, Mike Conley, Gordon Hayward, and Jeremy Lin are all jersey- and ticket-sellers wiped out for the year. That hurts everyone.

More specifically, this marks the fourth injury for James’ all-star team that will cost a player his appearance.

The league tried shaking up its format with James and Steph Curry drafting their own teams this year, but with one-third of his team going down, this hardly resembles The King’s picks anymore. If Curry’s team wins, he’ll hardly have bragging rights.

That’s a shame.