One of the many players the New York Knicks lost to injury this season was power forward Julius Randle. His loss led to a drastically changed game plan, as Tom Thibodeau was without his second-best player.
With Julius Randle sidelined the offensive production seemed to fall solely on the shoulders of Jalen Brunson. There wasn’t another player to help create scoring opportunities, as Randle draws a ton of attention from opposing teams.
An All-Star and All-NBA team performer, replacing a player of Julius Randle’s caliber is not easy. Especially when the team is battling through other injuries to OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson in the regular season.
Randle suffered his shoulder injury on January 27th playing against the Miami Heat. It is the second consecutive season he ended up having to undergo surgery because of an injury suffered against them.
In 2023, it was his ankle that he had work done on in the offseason. This time, shoulder surgery officially marked the end of his 2023-24 campaign. On Monday, he provided an encouraging update on his status and where he is at with his recovery.
“It’s healing up great,” Randle said on May 27. “I spent so much time rehabbing before. So when I came out of shoulder surgery, I was recovering pretty fast. A lot of my muscles around my shoulder are strong. I been healing up great. Been taking my time obviously, I’m not in a rush. But I like where I’m at for sure.”
Before going under the knife, Julius Randle worked tirelessly rehabbing to get back on the court. Unfortunately, his shoulder was never stable enough to play. During controlled contact practices he suffered a setback, which led to the decision to have surgery.
Based on his comments, it certainly sounds as if he is on track to be ready to go for the 2024-25 season. That is excellent news for the New York Knicks, who have already been involved in several trade rumors this offseason.
Julius Randle has been in the middle of a lot of them. But, it is going to be hard to find a player who will produce 24 points, 9.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists as Randle did despite a historically poor shooting start to the 2023-24 campaign.
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