The nightmare scenario has unfolded at Madison Square Garden. New York Knicks All-Star forward Kristaps Porzingis has suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, the result of an awkward and devastating landing after a dunk early in the second quarter of Tuesday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

With just under nine minutes to go in the second, Porzingis curled around an elbow screen from point guard Trey Burke, slid in behind veteran guard Jason Terry, took a bounce pass from center Kyle O’Quinn and went up for a dunk. Fellow All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo raced over to try to contest the shot. Porzingis got the dunk, but he came down hard on his left foot and immediately recoiled, dropping to the baseline and holding his left knee in evident pain as he writhed on the ground:

Kristaps Porzingis reached for his left knee immediately after his dunk against the Bucks. (Screencap via NBA) More

Knicks coaches and medical personnel came over to attend to Porzingis on the baseline. After a few minutes, he limped back to the locker room, leaving the Madison Square Garden crowd — as well as team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry — in stunned silence, fearing the worst.

Knicks management’s reaction to the Porzingis injury pic.twitter.com/pGzUIpGIf3 — N/A (@World_Wide_Wob) February 7, 2018





Kristaps Porzingis (left knee injury) will not return and is undergoing further evaluation. — NY_KnicksPR (@NY_KnicksPR) February 7, 2018





Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis is undergoing an MRI on his left knee tonight, league source tells ESPN. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 7, 2018





That further evaluation revealed the news no Knicks fan — no basketball fan, really — wanted to hear:

Medical Update: An MRI confirmed that Kristaps Porzingis tore the ACL in his left knee. — NY_KnicksPR (@NY_KnicksPR) February 7, 2018





The 22-year-old star’s ascent must now be put on hold. There’s no official timetable for his return as yet, but he will undergo season-ending surgery that puts a cruel and premature end to a campaign that saw Porzingis come into his own as one of the emerging faces of the league.

Porzingis averaged 22.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, a league-leading 2.4 blocks and 1.2 assists in 32.4 minutes per game in his third season, shooting 44 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3-point land and 79 percent from the foul line. He earned the first All-Star selection of his career due to his rise as the Knicks’ No. 1 option; during the captains’ draft in this year’s new All-Star format, leading vote-getter LeBron James chose Porzingis to be part of his team.

Porzingis is the fourth 2018 All-Star to succumb to injury before the midseason exhibition, meaning NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will have to select another injury replacement after tapping Paul George to step in for DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Drummond to replace John Wall, and Goran Dragic to replace Kevin Love. Porzingis was also scheduled to defend his title as the winner of last year’s Taco Bell Skills Challenge at this year’s All-Star Saturday event at Staples Center; he’ll have to be replaced there, too.

Losing Porzingis absolutely craters any hope New York had of sticking around and grinding its way into the East’s eighth and final playoff spot. The Knicks sit at 23-32, in 11th place in the East, five games behind the eighth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers. They’ve been the worst team in the league for more than a quarter of the season, going 6-17 since Christmas; that was with their best player available, and they just lost him. This season, for all intents and purposes, is over. Next season’s off to an awfully rocky start, too. After surgery, Porzingis will embark on months of grueling rehab, and while returns from ACL procedures vary, many of recent vintage have ranged from nine to 14 months. It’s time to look ahead.

As it stands, the Knicks have the 10th-worst record in the NBA, 5 1/2 games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks in the race to the bottom that will determine which team gets the highest odds of landing the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA draft. With Porzingis gone, the Knicks look like a prime candidate to sink like a stone in the standings just by virtue of a lack of top-end talent. New York should conduct its business this week accordingly.

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