Mudiay will return to a muddy PG role
Remember Emmanuel Mudiay?
For a refresher, the 22-yearold point guard started 32 straight games before straining his left shoulder Jan. 23 versus the Rockets. While he’s been out, the Knicks’ point-guard landscape has undergone a seismic shift.
The Knicks originally announced Mudiay would be out two weeks, but when he misses Wednesday’s game versus the 76ers, it will have been nearly three weeks (11 games) since he last played.
Coach David Fizdale has said Mudiay will be back after the All-Star break. But what is Mudiay getting back into?
Mudiay, who turns 23 next month, has no clue.
“That’s out of my control,’’ Mudiay told The Post on Monday in Cleveland. “That’s something you have to ask Fiz. I’m going to support my teammates.”
Since arriving in the Kristaps Porzingis trade five games ago, Dennis Smith Jr. has inherited the starting point-guard job. Though a bit wild, Smith has shown stud potential, and Fizdale has made references to the 2017 Mavericks lottery pick as a long-term guy.
Both Frank Ntilikina and Smith, who is averaging 17.4 points and 6.0 assists in his five games, are in the middle of their rookie contracts and each has two years left.
Mudiay, meanwhile is a free agent, and his cap hold will have to be renounced to open up the space for two max players come the offseason.
Before Mudiay’s injury, Fizdale was seriously auditioning the Nuggets’ 2015 lottery pick, to determine whether he could be considered part of the Knicks’ future. In improving his outside shot, Mudiay made significant progress as a versatile scorer, averaging 14.6 points and 3.9 assists.
Smith’s arrival has muddied matters. A Dallas native, Mudiay knew Smith well before the trade. They have similar styles in that they are penetrating point guards, average 3-point shooters and below-average defenders. Smith, 20, is regarded as the considerably more elite athlete and is younger.
“I like [that] he’s explosive,” Mudiay said. “I’ve known him since high school when he was one of the top players in the country. We’re both Under Armour guys so we’ve known each other for a bit of time now. Even in Dallas, we played together in the summer. We had a relationship before he got traded. I love his game.
“I play aggressive, he’s aggressive — that is something good,’’ Mudiay added. “I’m not going to make it a who’s who, who’s not. We’re all teammates right now. Anybody doing anything good is encouraging.”
The point-guard glut will become more severe following the break, which begins after Thursday’s contest in Atlanta.
Ntilikina is expected back from a sore groin, and twoway G-Leaguer Kadeem Allen is coming off back-toback career-high scoring games — putting up 25 points versus the Cavaliers to become the “Fizdale flavor of the week.”
Mudiay, meanwhile, is getting antsy to get back in the mix.
“You always want to play basketball because you love the game,’’ Mudiay said. “You don’t want to sit out, but the body has the mind of its own. When something like this happens, it’s best to get as healthy as you can for the long term. It’s not even three weeks, but it seems more because the games are so close together. It’s [a] little longer than I expected, but the doctors want to be cautious.”