3 scenarios Knicks should desperately hope to avoid in 2022-23
2: Injury to key players
Last season, we saw the Knicks lose Derrick Rose for the majority of the year, which was a huge blow to the team. Not only was he the best player off the bench, but Rose is also a huge leader for the younger players. In addition to losing Rose, the Knicks also lost Quentin Grimes for a big chunk of the final stretch of the season.
While these two may not be the most important to the team, they are still big players for New York’s odds at success. The last thing the Knicks need is to have a big-time player deal with a massive injury this year.
Fortunately, many of the key players on the team, such as RJ Barrett, Julius Randle, and Jalen Brunson, don’t have a history of injuries that have kept them out for long periods of time. The only outlier being Randle, who broke his leg during his rookie season in 2014, so there should be nothing to be worried about there.
Regardless, you can never predict an injury, and the last thing this team needs is for one of their stars to miss extended periods of time. We know Tom Thibodeau’s habits of overplaying his star players. It happened last season when in the fourth quarter of a blowout, Thibs left Barrett in and Barrett ended up spraining his ankle.
Obviously, this isn’t a major injury, but Barrett should not have been in the game to begin with. Anyways, no team wants to see any of their players go down with injuries. Unfortunately, it is just a part of basketball.
If this Knicks team can stay healthy this season, I have no doubt that they can make a push toward the playoffs/play-in.