Well, so much for the trade talk between the New York Knicks and LA Clippers. Iman Shumpert collapsed on a drive against the Pelicans Wednesday night, and reportedly suffered a sprained MCL in his left knee. Per Yahoo! Sports:
Shumpert left the Knicks’ 98-91 victory against New Orleans with the knee injury, and will return to New York to have an MRI on Thursday. There’s concern about possible meniscus damage that will be addressed in the examination, a source said.
Shumpert suffered a torn ACL and lateral meniscus in his left knee in April of 2012 and missed nine months before returning to the Knicks.
The current injury ends several months of trade talks centered on Shumpert, punctuated with discussions that gathered momentum over the past several days with the Clippers.
After several rounds of negotiations, the Clippers and Knicks abandoned discussions on a proposed trade centered around Shumpert earlier on Wednesday, league sources said. The Knicks had interest in bringing back Clippers point guard Darren Collison and rookie Reggie Bullock as part of a package, but wanted Los Angeles to accept Raymond Felton in the deal, sources said. The Clippers resisted the Felton element of the deal, and were reluctant to part with Bullock or any draft picks in talks, sources said. Clippers general manager and coach Doc Rivers has been determined to upgrade athleticism on the wings and sees Shumpert as a player who can complement J.J. Redick and Jared Dudley. Redick is expected to miss a month with a back injury.
The Knicks are still interested in pursuing a point guard before the Thursday trade deadline, but are running out of possibilities. New York has tried to stay aggressive in pursuit of Toronto’s Kyle Lowry, but the Raptors have turned down recent offers around the NBA that have included packages of a starting point guard and a future first-round pick.
