Jaylen Brown questionable for 76ers vs. Knicks

The news landed Thursday night, and it got passed around fast across national and New York reporters.

Dave McMenamin

@mcten

Jaylen Brown is questionable for the Sixers’ game against the Knicks on Friday with left knee soreness, according to the team

The listing is left knee soreness, no other detail, and the team hasn't said anything about how it happened. 'Soreness' with a questionable tag is about the vaguest thing an NBA injury report can say. It could mean a precautionary night off or a guy who goes through shootaround and plays 36 minutes. We won't know until Friday.

The New York side noticed right away, which makes sense. Brown missing this game is a real break for a Knicks team that already lost to Philly once.

Stefan Bondy

@SbondyNBA

Philadelphia’s Jaylen Brown is listed as questionable for tomorrow’s game against the Knicks with knee soreness.

The worry is about how much the Sixers have been leaning on him. Brown has played 36.3 minutes a night, 4th-most in the league as of Thursday evening, and he's putting up 20.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists. That's a heavy load for October from a guy who's supposed to be one piece of a stacked rotation, and a sore knee is the kind of bill that comes due when the minutes pile up this early.

It's also the whole reason Philly looks the way it does. Boston traded Brown to the Sixers in the summer's blockbuster, Philadelphia added LeBron James in free agency, and Kendrick Perkins went all in on it. He said Brad Stevens 'handed the Philadelphia 76ers a trip to the NBA Finals' and called Philly the team to dethrone the Knicks. So far they've held up their end: 4-1, including an opening-night win over New York.

The good news for Philly is that the other big names are fine. Joel Embiid and LeBron are both off the injury report after sitting out parts of last weekend's back-to-back. Dominick Barlow, Jabari Walker, Tacko Fall and Ariel Hukporti are all still out, so the depth is already thin if Brown can't go.

Friday's game is at Xfinity Mobile Arena in East Group B of the NBA Cup, against a 2-3 Knicks team that has won its last 2 against Detroit and Chicago. Cup group games count, so this isn't a throwaway. Watch for Brown's status at shootaround. And if it's knee soreness this deep into the minutes chart in October, keep an eye on how Philly manages his workload once he's back.