The New York Knicks getting Miles McBride back in their lineup for Tuesday night's game against the Houston Rockets wasn't the only positive injury update from the night. Head coach Mike Brown told reporters in Houston before the loss that veteran sharpshooter Landry Shamet is back to practicing with the team.
The coach said Shamet is scrimmaging with the team's young players, but doesn't know when he'll play again. That said, Stefan Bondy of The New York Post wrote on Twitter that it wouldn't surprise him if Shamet returned to the lineup on Wednesday night in Memphis.
Knicks' loss to Rockets showed how badly they miss Shamet
Shamet getting back to action against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday would be a major development for the Knicks. The NBA Playoffs are just a couple of weeks away at this point, making now the time for the team to gear up for a pivotal postseason run.
It's arguably the most important this century for New York, with the pressure turned up even higher by factors such as their offseason coaching change or the championship-level expectations outlined clearly by their governor following their NBA Cup Championship victory.
Shamet has been crucial to their regular season efforts thus far, serving as Brown's preferred alternate to close games when starting wing Mikal Bridges doesn't have it going. The wing's 9.6 average points per game through 46 appearances, including several cut short by injury, is on pace to be the second-highest mark of his nine-year NBA career thus far.
While he's far from the best player on the roster, games like Tuesday night's loss to the Rockets show exactly why Shamet is a crucial part of New York's depth. He would have been a nice option for Brown to have against Houston, perhaps to relieve Josh Hart of some responsibility.
The Knicks were 10-32 from behind the 3-point arc against the Rockets with two minutes left in the game, when they were down 20 and the game had been decided. That's another way in which having the reliable veteran could've prevented Tuesday night's embarrassment in Houston.
Second leg of Knicks' back-to-back tabbed for potential Shamet return
If Bondy is right, though, the team won't have to wait much longer to get the wing back. The scribe wrote in his Tweet that it wouldn't surprise him if Shamet returned on Wednesday against the Grizzlies.
The Athletic's James L. Edwards III posted several times throughout the Houston game that the team might opt to rest certain players against Memphis on Wednesday night, in what will be the back-end of a back-to-back for New York.
Whether Shamet returns then, or on Friday when the Knicks take on the Chicago Bulls at home, it's as good of timing as New York could have hoped for this late in the season. They'll have a couple of weeks left to iron out as many kinks as possible before the playoffs.