Julius Randle to miss at least two weeks with ankle sprain

A re-evaluation does not mean automatically mean Randle will be ready to hit the floor at that juncture, just that New York could have a better sense of his recovery timeline. He initially hurt the ankle during the second quarter of an eventual 101-92 victory over the Heat on Wednesday.

This injury comes at an incredibly inopportune time for New York, as (at minimum) it will knock him out for the team’s final five games of the 2022-23 regular season. The NBA playoffs will begin two weeks from Saturday, on April 15.

At 44-33, New York currently holds the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, just two wins away from clinching their second postseason appearance in three seasons under head coach Tom Thibodeau. Adding further context to the above-mentioned standings, New York is 2.5 games ahead of the sixth-seeded Nets, and four games in front of the seventh-seeded Heat.

Prior to suffering the ankle injury, Randle had not missed a single game this season. In his 77 healthy contests, the 6-foot-8 big man averaged 25.1 PPG on .459/.343/.757 shooting splits. He also chipped in 10.0 RPG, 4.1 APG and 0.6 SPG. Randle seems to stand a pretty good chance of landing on his second All-NBA team in three seasons thanks to his consistency, overall health/availability and team record.

As the East’s fifth seed, the Knicks are currently slated to face off against the Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs. New York will square off against Cleveland, which has already clinched a playoff berth, on Friday.