Given the context of a bullet getting blown through his knee, Cleanthony Early's return to the NBA wasn't the typical comeback.
Good fortune served as the backdrop.
Early was among the 12 active players on the Knicks roster against the Kings on Sunday, representing his first availability for an NBA game since he was shot during a robbery outside of a Queens strip club on Dec. 30.
Early - who had not spoken publicly since the shooting - sustained no structural damage as the bullet went through his right leg.
"When you look back on it the biggest part of it was just how fortunate he was that something more disastrous didn't happen and especially when you look at what could've happened with his knee," interim coach Kurt Rambis said.