SACRAMENTO — The Knicks will be about as close to full strength as they can get for Mike Brown’s return to Sac-town.
Neither Guerschon Yabusele nor Mitchell Robinson was on the injury report for the Wednesday night contest, with only Landry Shamet listed as out because of a shoulder sprain for his 25th straight DNP.
Robinson hasn’t been injured but his absence from the report was notable because Wednesday is the first game of a back-to-back. Robinson, who has been load managing his surgically repaired ankle, hasn’t played in both games of a back-to-back set all season.
Typically, the Knicks list him as questionable for the first game but not for Wednesday.
They’ll face the Warriors on Thursday and, if Robinson’s load management plan is still in place, he’ll sit in San Francisco rather than in Sacramento.
Yabusele, meanwhile, is returning from a two-game absence because of a quad contusion.
The Frenchman suffered the injury after one of his better games as a Knick, when he scored eight points in 13 minutes of a victory over the Clippers. He had also reemerged in the rotation for six straight games following an injury to Josh Hart.
Before that, Yabusele, the Knicks biggest signing of the summer, logged four straight DNPs.
Now Hart has returned from his ankle sprain and Brown has to manage a deeper bench in his revenge game against the Kings — who fired the coach about a year ago.
“The reality of it is coming back here in a place we enjoyed, yeah it’s a little emotional,” Brown said. “But at the end of the day, the fans, if they cheer me or hug me when they see me during the game, after the game, trust me, they wanna kick my ass, and the Knicks ass, and we wanna do the same.”
Brown already tightened the rotation in the last game against the Blazers on Sunday, with Tyler Kolek, Kevin McCullar Jr. and Mohamed Diawara either collecting a DNP or short situational minutes.
Yabusele is on the trade block after a disappointing start to his Knicks career, league sources said. The deadline is Feb. 5.
Shamet, who traveled with the Knicks on the current road trip, is getting closer to returning. He was cleared for contact recently after his shoulder was dislocated Nov. 22.
The last time Jalen Brunson was in Sacramento — March 2024 — he killed the Kings with one of the smartest plays of his career.
With about 40 seconds left and the Knicks leading by 3, Brunson summoned a screen to his left — prompting defender Keon Ellis to look over his shoulder — which the Knicks point guard used as an opportunity to drive the other way for a conversion in the lane and the victory dagger.
“It was crazy. It worked,” Brunson recalled Tuesday. “I don’t know how.”Brown was coaching the Kings at the time and was effusive about Brunson in the postgame news conference. Less than two years later, he’s coaching the Knicks (Brunson didn’t play in Sacramento last season after spraining his ankle).
“I was happy with [Brown being hired],” Brunson said. “I heard about him. I didn’t really have a relationship with him but he’s always says some nice words about me to the press. So when I got to get know him and everything, it just validated what I thought. Great guy, on and off the court. Just a blessing to be around.”
