Getty OG Anunoby #8 of the New York Knicks dunks the ball during the first half against the Chicago Bulls.
New York Knicks 3-and-D star OG Anunoby is set to return Friday, April 5, against the Chicago Bulls after missing the team’s last nine games.
Anunoby has been upgraded to probable in the latest NBA injury report. He was listed as questionable earlier in the day.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau shared that Anunoby had recently been cleared for contact and rejoined the team’s practice.
“He’s doing well. He’s getting closer. We’re optimistic, cautiously optimistic,” Thibodeau told reporters, per Hoopshype’s Michael Scotto, before the Knicks beat the Sacramento Kings 120-109 on Thursday, April 4.
Friday’s game marks Anunoby’s second comeback from his right elbow injury.
Anunoby underwent a procedure to remove a loose bone fragment in his right elbow on February 8 and returned on March 12. But his return was brief and was cut short after the third game.
Anunoby experienced soreness in his surgically repaired elbow on March 14 in Portland. He endured the pain and discomfort and still played in Sacramento on March 16. Following that game, where he only shot 1 of 8 from the field, he flew back to New York for an MRI.
The Knicks have a 15-2 record with Anunoby since they acquired him from Toronto via blockbuster trade on December 30. They won their first five games since the trade and racked up an 11-2 record before Anunoby went down with the elbow injury.
Sports Injury Doctor Raises Concerns
While Anunoby has been cleared to return to play, the risk of re-aggravating the injury remains, according to Dr. Brian Sutterer, a sports medicine doctor who educates fans on different types of athlete injuries on his YouTube channel.
“When you’re trying to manage tendonitis tendinopathy anywhere in the body, it’s not something hard and fast that you have to sit out for,” Dr. Sutterer said in his breakdown of Anunoby’s injury. “It’s often a load management, pain management, pain tolerance type of question. And so if all it took was those few games back reaching in for a steal to re-aggravate it to this extent, I worry that it’s so sensitive to getting flared up again that when he does try to come back, he’s going to just re-irritate this. So I am not all that optimistic that he remains back in the lineup on a consistent basis.”
It is unclear if Anunoby will be on a minute restriction upon his return. But Dr. Sutterer suggested that the Knicks’ best course of action is to manage it until their season ends.
“It’s going to be this tightrope balance of how much that tendon gets irritated until we can get to the off-season and do hopefully some more type of definitive treatment,” Dr. Sutterer said.
Julius Randle Undergoes Season-Ending Surgery
The Knick’s hopes for a deep playoff run suffered a major blow when the team announced on April 4 that Randle would undergo a season-ending surgery.
Randle initially nixed surgery and opted to rehab his dislocated shoulder as he hoped to return this season. However, after two months of trying, he begrudgingly decided to be shut down.
“I want everyone to know that I did everything in my power to get back this season,” Randle told B/R. “That was my intention, to be playing right now. That’s why I didn’t opt for surgery when it happened. But what caused me to finally go through with getting surgery was about five weeks ago, I went through a full-contact session in pads and re-injured my shoulder. My [expletive] wasn’t stable. I felt like I was in the same state when I first dislocated it, and It’s been an uphill battle ever since.”
Randle finished his third All-Star season, averaging 24.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists.