Karl-Anthony Towns has a bone chip in his sprained right thumb, Stefan Bondy of The New York Post reports. The injury occurred on Monday, when Towns’ New York Knicks lost to the Detroit Pistons. Towns hit his hand on the backboard during practice, and the subsequent sprained thumb kept him out of Wednesday’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers. After the match, Bondy reported that he suffered a bone chip in addition to the sprain.
The good news for the Knicks, however, is that Towns is expected to play through his injury. He’s still dealing with a sprain, but it was swelling in his right thumb that kept him from facing the 76ers, not a bone chip.
Still, an injury of any kind to his right hand is very significant for Towns. The four-time All-Star is averaging 25.4 points per game in his first season with the Knicks, and he’s done so in large part thanks to his excellent 3-point shooting. He made 44.9% of his attempts from long range, a new career high.
The discomfort in that right thumb would obviously make it more difficult for Towns to continue shooting at this level, so his pain tolerance will be key for the Knicks if they plan to make a serious run at the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. They are currently two games behind the Boston Celtics in the standings.
Outside of Mitchell Robinson, who has yet to play this season, New York has been remarkably healthy this season. None of their five starters missed more than three games despite playing one of the highest number of minutes in all of basketball. Now that durability is being tested, and only time will tell if Towns can continue his excellent season with an injured hand.
