The New York Knicks are still waiting to learn the true extent of guard Tim Hardaway Jr.’s stress injury to his left shin which kept him out of their loss to the Orlando Magic.
The New York Post’s Marc Berman consulted with Dr. Wellington Hsu, a top orthopedist at Northwestern University, who revealed how much time Hardaway could potentially miss if it’s determined that he has a stress fracture.
A stress fracture is such “a small break’’ that only an MRI exam or bone scan can determine this type of hairline fracture, Hsu said. If Hardaway has a stress fracture in his shin (the tibia or fibula), he would miss about two months.
A player can still run with a stress fracture but “if you keep playing on it, it will lead to a complete fracture and end your year,’’ Dr. Hsu said.
On the other hand, a stress reaction is often a minor injury which could clear up with a couple of weeks’ worth of rest.
Hardaway has already battled a variety of leg and foot injuries over the course of the season, although the Magic game was the first he’d missed all year. His willingness to play through those injuries could have led to a stress reaction, according to Dr. Hsu.
Given the Knicks' lack of reliable wing scoring outside of Hardaway, the team's second-leading scorer at 17.8 points per game, the Knicks can't afford for him to have a stress fracture and the possible two-month lay-off that would entail.