The New York Knicks may have to play without power forward Amare Stoudemire on Saturday night (Dec. 31). Stoudemire suffered a sprained ankle in the Thursday (Dec. 29) game against the Los Angeles Lakers and is officially listed as day-to-day. It means he could still play on Saturday, but that he would have limited mobility in his left ankle.

This injury has good and bad sides for the Knicks, especially as the team tries to find an identity in the early part of the season. The bad part is that Stoudemire is one of the two main offensive weapons that the Knicks have and it is hard to find offense when he or Carmelo Anthony is on the bench. The good part is actually the same situation, because it would force the lineup to figure things out with Stoudemire on the bench. Then, when he returns from the injury, the team will know what to do when he is taking a breather during games. Someone else has to step up to take pressure off of Stoudemire and Anthony, and this is the perfect opportunity to figure out who can do it.

In the first three games of the season, Stoudemire is averaging 17.3 points and 6 rebounds per game, but he has struggled to find his shooting stroke against the last two games. Against the Golden State Warriors he had just 16 points and against the Lakers he went just 4-for-17 from the field. Now the Knicks have to go up against the fast-paced Sacramento Kings next, a team that really likes to get out and run. That would certainly test Stoudemire’s ankle and it seems like the ideal week to simply rest him on the bench.

This game against the Kings is the last one on the West Coast road trip before the Knicks head back to Madison Square Garden for a Jan. 2 battle against the Toronto Raptors. If Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni plays it smart (like he should) and just gives Stoudemire some time off, his ankle should get a lot better by next Monday. Three games into the season, it just seems like too much of a risk to put him back on the court and risk the injury getting worse. It’s not like there is a break in the schedule, so getting him healthy for the Eastern Conference games has to become a priority.

The Knicks play the Sacramento Kings at Power Balance Pavilion on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET.

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Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

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Dec 28, 2011 – After earning a dramatic season-opening victory over the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day the New York Knicks begin a three-game, West Coast road trip Wednesday, as the Knicks visit the Golden State Warriors (1-1) and the ORACLE Arena (10:30 p.m. ET on MSG). After the contest, the Knicks (1-0) will then play at the Los Angeles Lakers, Thursday (10:30 p.m. on TNT), and at the Sacramento Kings, Saturday (8 p.m. on MSG).

On Wednesday, New York will search for its second consecutive victory to start the season, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by the franchise since 1999. The game will be a reunion with former Knick Mark Jackson, who’s now the Warriors head coach, and could be the debut of newly-acquired guard Jeremy Lin, who was claimed off waivers Monday and will return to the Bay Area where he played last season.

On Thursday, the Knicks will travel to Staples Center to play the Lakers (1-2), who will be playing their fourth game in five days. On Tuesday, behind 26 points from Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles earned a 96-71 victory over the Utah Jazz and snapped a two-game losing streak.

The West Coast swing ends Saturday, when New York visits the always rowdy Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento, CA. The Kings (1-1) will be coming off a Thursday match up with the visiting Chicago Bulls. As of Wednesday, guard Marcus Thorton is the squad’s leading scoring with 20.5 points per game.

Here’s the New York Knicks’ upcoming schedule:

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Read More: Kobe Bryant (G – LAL), New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks at Golden State Warriors, Dec 28, 2011 10:30 PM EST

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The NBA lockout is over, so claimed former New York Knicks president Dave Checketts on ESPN 700 AM—based in Salt Lake City—on Thursday, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

Checketts, who owns the Major League Soccer team Real Salt Lake, told the radio station that he has heard—as written by The Salt Lake Tribune—that the new collective bargaining agreement is a “10-year deal based around a 50-50 split of basketball-related income.”

At the moment, there is no way of confirming the information Checketts reportedly heard from league sources, though he is described in the report as a friend of NBA commissioner David Stern.

If nothing else, Thursday’s meeting between the owners and players union is a sign that each side is working toward a new CBA—not spending time taking shots at one another through the media as the parties did in recent weeks.

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