Knicks' Julius Randle to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery and miss playoffs
Knicks forward Julius Randle looks on during a timeout against the Celtics in the second half of an NBA game at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 24. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The wishing and hoping for Julius Randle to return to the lineup came to an abrupt and soul-crushing end on Thursday. After months of rehabilitation efforts, Randle finally gave in to the doctor’s recommendations and opted for season-ending shoulder surgery.
Randle, who has been sidelined since suffering a dislocated right shoulder on January 27, went through an arduous rehabilitation process and had been working constantly on the court on his conditioning and skill work. But he never was able to participate in full contact work and with the goal of returning for the playoffs now just weeks away, visits to two shoulder specialists left him with the reality that surgery was the only option, risking permanent damage if he injured it again.
“Well, we knew it was a possibility all along,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He did all that he could to try to get back, and he never got to the point where he felt comfortable with it. It’s a tough break for him, but our reality is what our reality is, and that’s the one thing that I’m proud of with our team is that they’ve shown great fight all year long when guys have gone out. So we were approaching it as if we weren’t going to have him, and if we got him, it would have been a bonus for him. So just keep doing what we’re doing.”
The expectation is that he will now be ready for the start of next season. The Knicks said that he will be reevaluated in five months, which would be just weeks ahead of the start of training camp — but as with this rehabilitation process, it is a reevaluation, not a return date.
The Knicks have been vague with the updates on his process, but it was easy to see Randle sweating in pregame workouts and returning to street clothes as his teammates took the court for the games. That spurred optimism that Randle would at least be able to attempt to play in the playoffs, but now that he has been shut down, the surgery will allow him to rehabilitate through the summer and return for the start of training camp next season.
"The journey is the journey," Randle wrote on his Instagram account. "Just keep going. It is what you think it is.”
An eye-opening hint came Sunday when Josh Hart was asked about the optimism of playing well and then anticipating the return of Randle and OG Anunoby. Hart responded, “I’m looking at it like this is the team we’re going to have. I think that’s how we have to approach it, that those guys aren’t coming back and obviously we’ll be pleasantly surprised if they come back.”
While Thibodeau maintained throughout that Randle was on track, working through the steps and awaiting clearance for full contact, Randle told Bleacher Report that he suffered a setback in a full contact practice about five weeks ago.
“I went through a full-contact session and reinjured my shoulder,” Randle told Bleacher Report. “My [shoulder] wasn't stable. I felt like I was in the same state when I first dislocated it, and It's been an uphill battle ever since . . .
"I didn't want to go through 'what if I could play?' I wanted to know for sure if I could or not.
"I don't have any regrets about going through with this process. I had to give myself a chance to get back on the court for my team. I thought I could. That contact session derailed it."
Randle had not missed a game this season up to the injury, which occurred when he fell awkwardly in a collision with Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. Randle was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team even with the injury sidelining him, averaging 24 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.
But the Knicks have never had their anticipated starting five when they made the trade for Anunoby of Randle, Anunoby, Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo and Mitchell Robinson together on the floor for a single second. With Randle’s status finally cleared up, the question now turns to Anunoby, who opted for surgery to remove loose bone fragments from his right elbow. He returned to action after 18 games sidelined and lasted just three games before heading back to the injured list.
The team updated the report to elbow tendinopathy this week with no timetable for a return. Thibodeau said that he has been cleared for contact, joining five-on-five scrimmages, and the team is cautiously optimistic that he can return soon. If he can be something close to what he was in January when the Knicks went 12-2 with him in the lineup (15-2 including the three-game return in March), the hopes of a playoff run are not lost, but certainly more imposing than they were if Randle returned to the lineup, too. The team did make a run to the Eastern Conference semifinals last season and essentially have swapped out Randle and Quentin Grimes with Anunoby and DiVincenzo this time.
“I have great belief in our team,” Thibodeau said. “I think you go into the season thinking about all the possibilities and you know, injuries are part of it. And so how do you deal with it? You have to have that mindset and that framework in place already. So when someone goes out, the next guy comes in and understand that you could be shorthanded and you could still win.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
