The 2023-24 NBA season is going to be defined by injuries for the New York Knicks. For a month, following a trade with the Toronto Raptors ahead of the New Year, the Knicks were the most dominant team in the NBA.
The addition of OG Anunoby into their starting lineup in place of RJ Barrett was exactly what the team needed to take their production to the next level. New York turned into a dominant team defensively and was very efficient on offense, but that success was short-lived.
On January 27th against the Miami Heat, is when things took a turn for the worse. That was the last time we saw Anunoby and Julius Randle on the court together before both suffered long-term injuries.
NBA NEWS & SCORES: Josh Hart, Julius Randle, OG Anunoby, New York Knicks Updates
Anunoby had to undergo a procedure on his elbow for loose bone spurs. He missed 18 games, came back to play in three and is sidelined again. Randle has been doing a lot of on-court work, but he has not yet been cleared for full contact and remains sidelined.
That has left the Knicks in a perilous place. Short-handed in the frontcourt, head coach Tom Thibodeau is relying on his core group of rotation players heavily. But, it looks like the heavy workload is beginning to catch up to the healthy players.
On Sunday night, New York lost a heartbreaker to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Their double-digit lead heading into the fourth quarter was gone in the blink of an eye, as their defense could not get stops down the stretch of the game.
Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo and Miles McBride played the entire second half and looked like guys who were running on fumes. After the game, Hart was asked about his teammates who are sidelined and didn’t sound like someone who would be getting reinforcements any time soon.
NBA NEWS & SCORES: Josh Hart, Julius Randle, OG Anunoby, New York Knicks Updates
“I’m looking at it like this is the team that we’re going to have… we’ll be pleasantly surprised if they come back,” Hart said after the loss to the Thunder via Knicks Videos on X.
“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.” Hart said, via ESPN.
That certainly isn’t what Knicks fans want to hear with the NBA Playoffs right around the corner. But, that is the reality of the situation. They do not know when or if Anunoby and Randle will be back, so they have to make do with what they have available to them at the moment.
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