Knicks’ Bumpy Road to the Playoffs: Injury Update

The New York Knicks entered Easter Sunday with a 44-29 record, good for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. They have two weeks and nine games remaining, and currently possess the fourth-hardest remaining schedule. Still, it looks all but certain that the Knicks will qualify for the 2024 NBA Playoffs in the top six of the East. But as the Knicks hope to make their deepest playoff run in 20 years, who is available and who will return from injury to help?

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau generally plays a nine or 10-man rotation, but that whittles down in the postseason. Health obviously plays a role in who’s in and who’s out. Ideally, the rotation is Jalen Brunson-Donte DiVincenzo-OG Anunoby–Julius Randle-Isaiah Hartenstein-Mitchell Robinson-Miles McBride-Josh Hart-Precious Achiuwa. Technically, Bojan Bogdanovic should be in the rotation, too, but he has shown too little to justify being included. Let’s review who’s healthy and able to contribute. 

Who’s healthy?

Thankfully, the Knicks’ best player — Jalen Brunson — is healthy and playing his best basketball at present. He just scored a career-high 61 points on Friday night in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs and is averaging 31.6 points and 7.2 assists in the last five games. Assuming Brunson remains healthy between now and the playoffs, he will enter the first round firing on all cylinders. But success in the playoffs requires more than one player. New York needs a lot from a number of other guys.

Donte DiVincenzo is playing great basketball of late. He is averaging 23.6 points and connecting on 44.6% of his three-point attempts in the last five games. That’s exactly what New York will need from DiVincenzo to facilitate a deep run.

Miles McBride has been playing like a man possessed since entering the Knicks’ starting lineup. He has been a starter for six straight games. In that time, he’s averaging 19.2 points, 3.7 assists, and 1.5 steals in 44.6 minutes per game. Given the injuries to major contributors, McBride will also have to keep playing at this level if New York is going to succeed.

Josh Hart has also played incredibly well. Since the All-Star break, he’s averaging 12.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 6.1 assists in 41.5 minutes per game. The Knicks will need Hart to continue contributing, but his role will likely change depending on how healthy OG Anunoby and Julius Randle are come the playoffs. Obviously, if Anunoby and Randle are back and playing heavy minutes, Hart contributes less — but coach Thibodeau won’t lose sleep over that. 

With Isaiah Hartenstein and Mitchell Robinson ramping up and returning, respectively, Prescious Achiuwa has been less involved of late. He’s averaging 20.2 minutes in the team’s last five games after averaging 27.3 minutes in the previous 10. But he has proved his worth since joining the Knicks in late December, peaking in February, when he averaged 12.2 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.5 blocks per game. That’s more than enough to qualify for a role in the rotation.  

Who’s hurt?

Julius Randle is the most obvious player here. He has been out since Jan. 29 with a dislocated shoulder and remains unable to practice with full contact. Randle could get the green light to play in the first round and ramp up slowly before re-entering the starting lineup in the second-round — but that’s a very specific scenario requiring quite a bit of luck. Unfortunately, if we’re being honest, a return from Randle seems like a long shot.

OG Anunoby is another player on whom the Knicks’ success hinges. Stats aside, he is probably New York’s second-most important player. He has the second-highest +/- on the team in January (+25.1) and he posted an impressive +23.8 through three games in March, too. Anunoby hasn’t played since re-aggravating the elbow on which he recently had a minor surgery. Since he just played so well in mid-March after returning from a fairly long time away from the game, the hope is that New York is simply being cautious with Anunoby.

What about the rest of the Knicks?

There are a few wild cards, too,  and Mitchell Robinson qualifies as one. Robinson returned two games ago, but he tweaked the ankle that kept him out for three months In Friday’s loss. He is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Thunder. Hopefully this is precautionary and he returns soon.

Unfortunately, Isaiah Hartenstein finds himself in this category, too. Hartenstein was just getting back to playing well again. He’s averaging 13.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in New York’s last five games despite playing on a minutes restriction due to his continued recovery from an Achilles injury. He looks to be past that injury, but landed awkwardly on his wrist in Friday’s loss against San Antonio, which landed him on the team’s injury report. It seems like he (and the team) dodged a serious injury, though. Assuming Hartenstein’s wrist is a quick fix, he’ll be another necessary player on whom the Knicks will learn heavily.

Despite playing incredibly well through the regular season, New York’s playoff success is far from guaranteed. They could realistically finish the season as the third or the fifth seed, and they could play any number of opponents. For better or worse, the team’s success probably hinges on its health. We’ll see if they are healthy or not — hopefully it’s the former.