Early Wednesday morning, Cleanthony Early was involved in a very scary incident as he was robbed after being boxed in by three different cars. After giving up all of his valuables, including his cash, his chains and his phone, the suspects still decided to shoot the New York Knicks forward in the knee. Early is fortunate that the injury doesn't appear to be serious, and it looks like he can be back on the court at some point this season, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports.
After being taken to the hospital immediately, the details were few and far between on Wednesday morning as to how serious the injury might be, but there were reports that Early was in stable condition. During the late morning, though, Early was released from the hospital, according to Mark Morales of the Wall Street Journal, which was a great sign that the injury was not that serious.
A day later there are a lot more details about Early's status, and they all seem pretty positive in terms of his future outlook. Early underwent X-rays and an MRI on the knee, and they revealed no structural damage while also revealing the bullet went straight through the knee as opposed to being lodged there. Early was treated to ensure that the knee did not become infected, and the doctors expect him to make a full recovery.
The expectation is that Early will need about six-12 weeks before he can get back to playing basketball, but that timetable is subject to change. The timetable given for Early is broader than most timetables you see in sports, but this is a rare case and a lot depends on how his knee responds to rehab.
Early did have arthroscopic surgery on this same knee in his rookie season, but he will not need surgery for this. Early is reportedly in good spirits about the whole situation, and the Knicks have been briefed on the situation.
There have been no arrests made in connection to this shooting/robbery, but the investigation is ongoing. Early was not part of the Knicks' rotation before the incident, so his absence shouldn't affect their play on the court, but when he is able to return to the court it should give them a huge lift because this situation could have been a whole lot worse.
