Knicks’ Jalen Brunson sprains right ankle, ruled out at halftime

New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson suffered a sprained right ankle in the first quarter and was ruled out for the remainder of Wednesday night’s game in Sacramento.

Brunson limped off the floor at the 7:01 mark of the first quarter following an awkward step on a pass a minute earlier. He was initially deemed questionable to return but was ruled out at halftime.

Brunson, the Knicks’ leading scorer at 28.9 points per game, scored four points in five minutes.

He missed two games in mid-November with a right ankle sprain against Orlando. Last season, he missed nearly a full month after spraining his right ankle against the Lakers in March. Brunson also tweaked his foot multiple times during last year’s playoff run to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Knicks were just beginning to get healthier in the middle of a grueling stretch in which they have played five of their past six games on the road. Josh Hart returned Wednesday after missing eight games with an ankle sprain he suffered on Christmas Day.

The Knicks went 3-5 during Hart’s absence but entered the day in second place in the Eastern Conference at 25-14. They are on the front end of a back-to-back, traveling to San Francisco for a matchup with Golden State on Friday night.