Something is awry at Madison Square Garden, where Julius Randle’s status has been misrepresented after dislocating his right shoulder on Jan. 27.
On March 25, head coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters Randle had suffered no setbacks in his rehab process and was working on strengthening his shoulder for an eventual injury return.
It’s a sentiment Thibodeau shared numerous times since Randle’s injury: No setback. No contact. Shoulder needs strengthening.
Yet Randle —according to the words he spoke to Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes on Thursday — said he went through a full-contact session “five weeks ago” and re-injured his shoulder as a result, which is why he’s been ruled out for the season, scheduled to undergo shoulder surgery as of Thursday afternoon.
“I want everyone to know that I did everything in my power to get back this season,” Randle told Haynes. “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 and re-injured my shoulder. My s–t 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.
“I don’t have any regrets about going through with this process. I had to give myself a chance to get back on the court for my team. I thought I could. That contact session derailed it.”
Here’s where things get murky: Haynes went on TNT — the network airing the Knicks’ Thursday night matchup against the Sacramento Kings — and read portions of Randle’s above quote word-for-word off his cellphone.
He then amended the quote used in his story from Randle “went through a full-contact session” to Randle “went through a full-contact session in pads.”
Haynes then re-recorded his segment on TNT to add “in pads” to his appearance. He read the same quote in the first appearance off his cellphone without the words “in pads.”
A number of things are wrong here:
— There is no such thing as “full contact in pads.” Either the pads limit the contact, or there are no pads and the session is full-contact.
— KThibodeau explained Randle’s contact sessions were “with pads” as opposed to “in pads.” Randle never wore pads in practice. Instead, assistant coaches used pads to simulate contact: “That’s really what it is,” said Thibodeau. “So you can control the contact and you can control how much you’re giving it. And the idea was keep progressing, give him more, if he handles that, give him more.”
— Randle said he re-injured his shoulder about five weeks prior to April 4, which would be Feb. 28, well before Thibodeau said there hadn’t been any setbacks
— Feb. 28 would also mark just a month after the shoulder dislocation, quite a quick turnaround to taking contact
Thibodeau has been consistent about Randle not yet being cleared for contact — but Randle says he took full contact more than a month ago. Asked if Randle ever progressed past controlled contact session with pads, Thibodeau said no
— Thibodeau said he doesn’t know the details of what kind of surgery Randle is getting — and the Knicks do not make their training or medical staff available for comment
It doesn’t add up.
Thibodeau attempted to explain the discrepancy between his account and Randle’s ahead of tipoff against the Kings on Thursday.
“I didn’t — the thing is like: He was going through, and this is where we talked about he was taking contact, but it was controlled contact. It was with pads, right? And so some days he felt better than others,” he said. “And then, in the end, he had to trust his gut, that he could play and play the way that he plays, which is: he’s very physical and aggressive with his shoulder.
“So if he can’t use his shoulder, then he can’t play — he can’t change his style of play. So once he got to the point where he felt like he’d have a good day, and then the next day it wouldn’t be as good.
“At the end of the day, I trust Julius. He’s got to trust his body. So he took it as far as he could, and then he went to see some specialists, and he felt this was the best course of action. And so I’ve watched the way he worked, and I think some of you guys saw it as well. I don’t want a guy out there that doesn’t feel comfortable being out there. I don’t think that’s right. So we’re gonna support him.”
Thibodeau then tried to explain how Randle actually re-injured his shoulder.
“So every day he goes through contact. We felt [there] would be soreness. If it flares up a little bit, you want to see where he is the next day,” he said. “And that was the big thing. We said, ‘OK, the next day we’ll take a look at it.’ And then if it doesn’t feel better — if it got a little better and then he had another setback — it’s telling him that it can’t be done. So the first time he goes out there, he gets hit again, now you’ve gotta shut it down.
“So I think he’s looking at that. And he wants to give the team everything he has, right? So it’s not easy. It wasn’t an easy decision. He gathered as much information as he could, he went through the process, and then this is the best decision right now.
“So that decision is made, we’re not gonna talk about it anymore. We’re gonna focus on what we have to focus on, which is winning the next game. That’s it. It’s really that simple.”
Randle is the latest player to return to action in some form for the Knicks before a setback removed him from the frame.
OG Anunoby underwent elbow surgery in early February and returned about a month-and-a-half later, only to aggravate his elbow after three games during the Knicks’ March 14-21 West Coast road trip.
But remember: The Knicks first listed Anunoby as out due to elbow inflammation, then suddenly changed his status to out with bone spur irritation before announcing he had already undergone elbow surgery.
Anunoby has been out since March 16 — but Thibodeau said the starting forward is once again taking contact and has progressed to five-on-five drills.
“OG’s doing well,” Thibodeau said ahead of tipoff on Thursday. “He’s getting closer. So we’re optimistic — cautiously optimistic — with that one.”
There’s also Mitchell Robinson, who underwent ankle surgery after a stress fracture sustained in a Dec. 8 loss to the Boston Celtics. The Knicks applied for a Disabled Player Exception only for the league to deny the exception due to a good chance Robinson could recover in time to rejoin the team this season.
Robinson returned on March 27, played 12 minutes against the Toronto Raptors, then tweaked his surgically-repaired ankle in regulation before playing all five minutes of overtime in a road loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
Robinson then sat the Knicks’ one-point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and was listed as questionable ahead of tipoff against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday.
Randle isn’t returning this season, and he gave a valiant effort in his attempt to return to help the Knicks in their pursuit of two straight second-round playoff appearances.
How and when he got to this point, however, remains unclear — and things only got more confusing after the Knicks ruled him out for the season on Thursday.
