The New York Knicks may have won the game, but they could be looking at a stretch without one of their top forwards for the next little while as a result.
New York, who downed the Miami Heat 125-109 Saturday, saw star big man Julius Randle take a hard fall with 4 minutes remaining in the contest. Randle was slow to get up and could be seen favouring his right arm.
Post game X-rays didn’t appear to show any major damage, however additional testing revealed a dislocated right shoulder, which will likely sideline the 29 year old indefinitely. Teammate Jalen Brunson suffered a similar looking injury previously as a member of the Dallas Mavericks. That set back cost him weeks, and ultimately required surgery to repair a torn labrum.
“We don’t want to see that from anybody, especially him with how he’s been playing. He means a lot to us. So for him to go back there, obviously it’s not ideal,” said Brunson. Head coach Tom Thibodeau echoed those concerns telling reporters he was “very” concerned about the long term outlook of his starting power forward.
Prior to going down, Randle was having another strong performance with 19pts/9reb/3ast on the evening. New York as a team is amongst the hottest in the NBA at the moment, rattling off a 12-2 record since the start of 2024. Currently riding a 6 game winning streak, the Knicks have risen to 4th place in the Eastern Conference standings, and sit just 1 game back of the Philadelphia 76ers for 3rd.
It’s currently unclear how much time Randle will miss, but the club hopes to avoid the worst case scenario which would be surgery. Additional testing is scheduled to take place Sunday once swelling has gone done in the affected area.
The Knicks are scheduled to travel to Charlotte for a date with the lowly Hornets on Monday in a 7pm ET tip. Following that, they return back to Madison Square Garden for a 6 game home stand.
Photo: Senhormario. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.