Knicks Precious Achiuwa remains out as Jericho Sims woes have lingered

Precious Achiuwa hasn’t played this season, and that won’t change against Giannis Antetokounmpo.Achiuwa was ruled out of Friday’s game with the same hamstring strain he suffered in the preseason finale Oct.18.

In his absence — which will hit at least eight straight games — the Knicks have leaned heavily on Jericho Sims as the lone frontcourt reserve in an eight-man rotation.That’s been a mixed bag.Although the Knicks won Sims’ minutes the last two games, he’s been limited offensively with just six shot attempts in 94 total minutes this season.

Achiuwa is more of a power forward than a center and doesn’t set screens as powerful as Sims, but the 25-year-old from Nigeria was the first frontcourt player off the bench until his injury and adds a shotmaking element that’s been missing from the inside.In the last update from coach Tom Thibodeau earlier this week, Achiuwa was making “steady progress” toward his return but hadn’t been cleared for a full practice.The original injury announcement said Achiuwa would be evaluated in two to four weeks, which was 2 ½ weeks ago.

He has not been made available to the media.Achiuwa averaged 9.4 points and 7.2 rebounds in 24.6 minutes over four games in the preseason.Cam Payne, who also is dealing with a hamstring strain, is listed as questionable for the Bucks game.

He’s missed two games in a row and was replaced in the rotation by rookie Tyler Kolek, who played well in Wednesday’s loss to the Hawks with six points and an assist in nine minutes.Antetokounmpo was listed as questionable with an adductor strain before playing in Thursday’s Bucks game against the Jazz.Sign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.

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