’s
NBA season has come to an end as he is set to have shoulder surgery. The player dislocated his shoulder on Jan. 27 while playing the , and he has tried extremely hard to rehabilitate it, but not with the success he expected. , doctors told the player that any instability in his shoulder would make it unsafe for him to start playing again. The 27-year-old explored every avenue to avoid having surgery, but after two separate visits to a specialist, they said he would risk further damage without having a procedure. Therefore, Randle will now get surgery and it should allow him to make a full recovery and be back on the floor for the start of next season. His absence will be felt by a Knicks team that's fifth in the Eastern Conference after winning 44 games in the regular season so far. The three-time All-Star was averaging 24 points on 47 percent
shooting, with 9.2 rebounds and 5 assists per game. At one point in the campaign, he scored 20 points or more in 19 successive games. The Knicks won 12 the 14 games Randle played this season alongside teammate OG Anunoby, a midseason acquisition who is currently out due to an elbow injury. With both players in the lineup,
New York had the best defense in the . In March, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau gave an update on Randle’s condition before the surgery announcement, which seemed to indicate the player was progressing well. "He’s shooting, doing individual work, that’s all good,” he told SNYTV. “He can do 5-0; that sort of thing. Light contact with the pads. It’s him feeling better. You’ve got to continue to strengthen the shoulder and go from there. You know what the move is so you can brace yourself for it. So there’s a progression to what you have to go through." But following the Knicks’ late 113-112 defeat to the on Sunday, forward Josh Hart guessed Randle would not play again this season and predicted the same for Anunoby. "I'm looking at it like this is the team we're going to have," he said. "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. "I'm not in those medical conversations or anything like that, so I don't know s*** from s***. But we've got to approach every game and the end of this season that those guys aren't coming back, and if they do, be pleasantly surprised." On Wednesday the Knicks suffered their third successive loss with a 109-99 defeat to the Heat. Donte DiVincenzo scored 31 points, while Jalen Brunson and Miles McBride combined for 44, but their efforts were not enough to help their team claim victory.