Knicks Get Bad News On Injury Front After All-Star Break

The Knicks were expected to get OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart back in the first game since the All-Star break on February 20. However, all three injured players sat out the overtime win over the Bulls.

To make matters worse, there is no definite timeline for the returns of Anunoby, Robinson and Hart. While Anunoby is dealing with a foot injury, Robinson has yet to play a game in the 2024-25 season after his ankle surgery in the offseason. As for Hart, the two-way wing missed the game against the Bulls with a patellofemoral syndrome in his right knee, per ESPN.

The one positive is that Robinson has been cleared for 5-on-5 contact, per Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau. However, the shot-blocking big man isn’t expected to return to the court until the first week of March.

The midseason injuries to Anunoby and Hart come at a time when Thibodeau has been under fire for playing his starters too many minutes.

Knicks Workload A Concern

Three of the five minutes leaders in the 2024-25 season are Knicks players, with Bridges, Hart and Brunson giving it their all all season. Anunoby ranked No. 11 in minutes per game before his injury, clocking 36.3 minutes per game.

In comparison, the Knicks’ conference rivals the Celtics and Cavaliers have been more judicious with the workload of their starters. In fact, no Cavaliers player is averaging more than the 31.3 minutes per game clocked by star guard Donovan Mitchell.

Many analysts reckon the Knicks could limp their way into the playoffs unless they give more playing time to their bench players. ESPN’s Stephen A Smith, for example, has refused to back the Knicks as legitimate title contenders due to their starters’ workload.

“The absence of depth is what concerns us about the New York Knicks which means someone as rough and rugged as Tom Thibodeau is going to play these other guys until the cows come home,” Smith told ESPN’s “First Take” on January 7.

“He’s going to run them into the ground and they are going to be dead and dog-tired come playoff time, that’s my concern. I love Tom Thibodeau but I fear he’s going to wear them out.”

Robinson Could Be A Game Changer

The Knicks have been a terrific offensive team in 2024-25, but the same can’t be said about their defense, specifically their rim protection.

The Knicks are giving up 49.6 points at the paint per game, which ranks 20th in the league. They are also 17th in the league in defensive rating, giving up 113.7 points per 100 possessions. These metrics, while a concern, could be flipped with the return of Robinson, one of the best rim protectors in the league.

“Robinson’s presence for the Knicks, assuming he’s healthy, will be huge,” The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III wrote on February 19. “New York will need these final 28 games to sort a lot of stuff out, including how Towns will be impacted.”

The writer further suggested that the Knicks could resort to bigger lineups of Karl-Anthony Towns and Robinson on the floor together, much like when the Timberwolves used Towns and Rudy Gobert in their starting unit.

“I’m assuming we’ll see a significant amount of Robinson-Karl-Anthony Towns lineups, and I’m sure the staff will want a good enough sample size as possible to determine if it works or not,” he added. “The team still needs to improve a good amount defensively, so I’m sure that’ll be the emphasis down the final stretch.”

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