Rookie and New York Knicks point guard Frank Ntilikina apparently injured himself during a practice session on Friday. The eighth overall pick in the 2017 draft was pictured being helped out of practice after he seemingly twisted his ankle while competing in team drills.
@FrankLikina looks like he badly turned left ankle. pic.twitter.com/Jm2nMxPxE7
— Barbara Barker (@meanbarb) October 20, 2017
The injury comes a day after the Knicks lost their season opener to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
According to Alex Squadron of the New York Post, the rookie was pretty upset after he hurt his ankle. Jeff Hornacek says that Ntilikina may have stepped on another player. Squadron also reports that Ntilikina is listed as questionable for Saturday’s game.
“Looked like I thought he maybe stepped on Willy’s [Hernangomez] foot,” coach Jeff Hornacek said shortly after the incident. “[Frank] went to box him out and it looked like he stepped on his foot. Hopefully it’s not too bad.”
The team, reportedly did their best to console Ntilikina who has had to deal with the injury bug since being drafted in May.
Following from the New York Post,
This latest one did not look good, and essentially ended the practice session. While Ntilikina was on the floor, several members of the team and coaching staff huddled around him, encouraging the 19-year-old to just breathe and relax.
The Knicks think high of the European product, as they were willing to let Derrick Rose walk this offseason so that they could draft the point guard. His fit next to star Kristaps Porzingis is an essential part of Ntilikina’s development. This newest setback does not help that cause, and neither did Hornacek’s minute distribution in the team’s first game. The Knicks coach elected to go with Ramon Sessions and Ron Baker as the players to run the offense. The results were not kind.
Ntilikina played in limited minutes in his debut against the Thunder. Over the course of the game, he took two shots missing both.
