"You sell your soul Thibs" - 3X NBA champion shockingly predicts underdogs eliminating Knicks in Playoffs if Jalen Brunson remains sidelined

Over the weekend, Shams Charania reported that Knicks star Jalen Brunson could be out until early April with an ankle injury sustained in New York's Mar. 6 game against the Lakers. Based on the timeline given by the ESPN NBA insider, Brunson could return to action with just a handful of games left on the Knicks' regular season schedule.

According to three-time NBA champ Udonis Haslem, regardless of what the latest reports indicate, Brunson's ankle won't get back to 100% until the summer. Because of that, Haslem believes if Tom Thibodeau's Knicks match up with the surging Detroit Pistons, the team could be in trouble.

During an appearance on ESPN's NBA Today on Tuesday, Haslem spoke about the situation:

"This is championship expectations. You bring Kat in, you move Julius Randall, you move DiVincenzo, you make those moves, you sell your soul a little bit. But because you're a defensive guy, you bring in more offense. You do that because you want to win a championship.

"Now, I like those Thundercats out of Detroit. I'm looking at that matchup ... Jalen Brunson coming in or not. That ankle's not going to be ready till the summertime. We all know that. So he is not going to be healthy. I'm looking at Detroit and I'm saying this could be a first-round exit for New York."

The Knicks are firmly positioned in third place in the Eastern Conference. As of publication, they trail the second-place Celtics by 5.5 games and lead the fourth-place Bucks by five.

In the case of the Pistons, the team is currently sitting in sixth place, one game behind both the Bucks and the Pacers, and 5.5 games ahead of the seventh-place Atlanta Hawks.

Given that, if the Pistons advance in the standings, New York could wind up with a different first-round opponent.

Knicks pick up third win in Jalen Brunson's absence with 116-95 victory over the Miami Heat

Despite Jalen Brunson's absence disrupting the Knicks' offense, the team has continued to find ways to win.

Since Brunson went down with an ankle injury during the team's Mar. 6 game against the LA Lakers, the team has posted a 3-2 record.

In the game immediately following Brunson's injury, the team lost a road game to the LA Clippers, shooting just 26.5% from beyond the arc and 38.5% from the floor. Both numbers pale in comparison to their regular season averages of 48.8% from the floor and 37.1% from downtown.

Since then, Tom Thibodeau's team has returned to form, averaging 48.2% from the floor in the four games since, and 45.7% from beyond the arc. During that time, the team has posted a 3-1 record that's seen them defeat the Sacramento Kings, Portland Trail Blazers, and most recently, the Miami Heat.

Without Brunson's offensive contributions—26.3 points and 7.4 assists per game this season, Knicks, after some early growing pains, seem to be learning how to win in his absence.

If Udonis Haslem's assessment that his ankle injury won't be fully healed come playoff time holds true, learning to win without Brunson could prove invaluable to the Knicks as the team looks to make a deep playoff run despite the star guard not being at 100%.