One in, one — and potentially two — out.
Just as the Knicks got all their starters back, they were again short-handed.
Karl-Anthony Towns missed the Knicks’ 106-100 win over the Magic on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden with left calf tightness.
And Miles McBride exited in the third quarter with a left ankle injury.
Karl-Anthony Towns is pictured during the Knicks’ Dec. 5 game against the Jazz. Getty Images
He went down hard while being fouled on a layup late in the third quarter, stayed in to take free throws but then motioned to the bench to be taken out and did not return.
Coach Mike Brown did not have much of an update on McBride, just saying he is still being evaluated and that they’ll know more on Monday.
Towns’ injury cropped up during the rout of the Jazz on Friday. He winced while receiving treatment from trainers on the bench during the third quarter and did not return.
OG Anunoby, after missing nine games with a left hamstring strain, returned for Friday’s win.
It meant coach Mike Brown was able to trot out Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Anunoby, Josh Hart and Towns as his starting lineup — the same starting unit Tom Thibodeau used last year and the one Brown intends to use going forward.
Miles McBride (2) limps to the locker room during the Knicks’ Dec. 7 win. Jason Szenes for the NY Post
But one game later, Brown had to again adjust his starting lineup.
He inserted Mitchell Robinson in Towns’ place. Robinson actually began the year as a starter, starting the first nine games he played in, but Brown had opted to bring him off the bench the previous five games he played in.
Robinson logged 25 minutes, the biggest workload he’s gotten this season as the Knicks watch his minutes and try to load manage his left ankle.
He recorded six points and 13 rebounds, eight of those coming on the offensive glass.
McBride, who had been red-hot of late, missed all five 3-pointers he took before exiting.
In a bizarre sequence in the fourth quarter, Desmond Bane wound up and threw the ball one-handed at Anunoby, who had fallen to the ground out of bounds.
And it was not as if Bane had to save the ball or had to throw it off Anunoby — he had corralled the ball with both feet in bounds and was not off-balance.
Anunoby pushed him and exchanged a few words with Bane, who received a technical.
What’s happening on and off the Garden court
Sign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.
Thank you
He was subsequently booed by the MSG crowd every time he touched the ball afterward.
Anunoby laughed it off after the game.
“I was confused at first, then it was funny,” Anunoby said. “I like Desmond. … He’s a good dude.”