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CHARLOTTE — Two weeks removed from turning his ankle at a nasty angle, Jalen Brunson is out of the walking boot and “doing light shooting,” according to Tom Thibodeau.
The Knicks coach added that “hopefully” Brunson will return to establish a rhythm before the playoffs.
“Whenever he’s ready, he’s ready. He’s putting a lot into his rehab, so right now, that’s where we want his focus to be,” Thibodeau said. “And then hopefully, he’ll get into some games where he works his way back into it.”
The Knicks have just 13 games remaining in the regular season following a 115-98 loss Thursday in Charlotte.
Notably, Brunson needs four more appearances to qualify for postseason awards.
Two of them have to be at least 20 minutes, and the other two have to be at least 15 minutes.
He’s a strong candidate for two of them — All-NBA and Clutch Player of the Year.
With two sets of back-to-backs in the final six games — and a priority to keep Brunson healthy — it might be difficult to squeeze that in at the end of the season.
But clearly, the goal is to get the point guard real-game reps before the first round starts April 19.
Brunson was injured March 6 in overtime against the Lakers, when he landed on Austin Reaves, nailed a free throw and hobbled off the Crypto.com Arena floor.
The Knicks are 3-4 without their top scorer.
Their offense had been struggling, while the defense experienced an uptick with Miles McBride as the replacement.
The Knicks also are in the doldrums of their schedule, the annual March crunch of road games — thank you, Big East Tournament — that feel less consequential this year with Brunson unavailable and the team somewhat comfortable in the third seed.
But after the Knicks looked worn out in Wednesday’s loss to the Spurs, McBride pushed back hard at the notion that off nights are acceptable.
“No, I think these are some more important days,” he said. “Honestly, I feel like if you’ve played in the playoffs before, I feel like these are the times where guys are really trying to tune up even more, and these games become even more important, whether you’re looking at trying to get in the playoffs or get a better seeding. So I feel like these are games where trying to tune up and get ready, and I feel we didn’t show that [against the Spurs].”
On a personal level for McBride, it’s easy to see why these games are so significant.
He’s again seeing big minutes as a starter, just like last season, when surgeries shelved OG Anunoby and Julius Randle.
McBride went from averaging 23.7 minutes before Brunson’s injury to 33.5 in the six games immediately afterward.
His contributions on defense have been predictably positive, given his skill set.
But the Spurs defeat was a dud on both sides of the ball overall for the Knicks, who were torched by the little-known Sandro Mamukelashvili.
McBride said missed shots carried over to defense for the Knicks, who Thursday played on the road for the 11th time in the past 14 games.
“Our approach, I felt like when shots weren’t going in, we’re kind of a shell of ourselves,” McBride said. “We just didn’t do the little things. Sometimes in games that’s going to happen, especially when it gets to tight games, playoff games. You might miss a shot, but if you don’t get back in transition, you let them capitalize.”
Brunson also wasn’t around to lift the offense in the fourth quarter.
That’s been his greatest trait this season — flashing his clutch gene.
And now that he’s back shooting on the sprained ankle, there’s hope he’ll be re-integrated to gear up for the playoffs.
“Steady progress,” Thibodeau called it.
