Derrick Rose has ankle surgery, out at least 8 weeks

The New York Knicks have been hit so hard by the COVID-19 virus in recent weeks that it would have been easy not to notice point guard Derrick Rose, who exited the Dec. 16 game against Houston with an ankle injury. Sadly, that bum ankle is going to cost Rose some serious time.

Crap.

Watching the Houston game, it wasn’t clear exactly when Rose injured the ankle. He tested the ankle before the next two games, but wasn’t able to go. And now this. Boy, that escalated quickly.

This cripples the Knicks in the short and long term. They are short two guards in Immanuel Quickley and Miles McBride, both of whom are in COVID protocols. Kemba Walker has been starting and playing huge minutes, but he too is a massive injury risk.

But what happens when IQ and Deuce return? I would guess that Deuce takes over Rose’s backup PG role alongside IQ and Alec Burks, with Kemba slotted in as the starting PG. The Burks-as-starting-PG experiment isn’t working, and Kemba has probably shown enough to reclaim his starting spot.

While it’s very cool that Deuce might get a shot in the rotation, this injury could be fatal to the Knicks’ playoff hopes. Rose has been arguably the team’s best player this season. Then again, if guys like Julius Randle, Evan Fournier and Mitchell Robinson don’t find some consistency, they probably wouldn’t make the playoffs even with a healthy Rose. It’s time to see what this team is made of.