Julius Randle has a dislocated right shoulder, a league source confirmed to The Athletic. ESPN was first to report the diagnosis.
The two-time All-Star suffered the injury late in the fourth quarter of a 125-109 win over the Miami Heat. With the New York Knicks on the verge of victory, Randle drove to the basket where Miami rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. met him. Jaquez attempted to press charges. Randle attempted to jump over him, causing the burly force to fall forward to the ground. He got the blocking foul but landed on his right shoulder, which dislocated.
Randle quickly went to the locker room, didn't shoot the free throws and didn't return to the court.
When asked after the game if he was worried about the injury, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau responded with one word: “Very.” Randle is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Saturday evening. The Knicks play at the Charlotte Hornets next Monday. Nothing is known yet about Randle's return plan.
“He’s a guy that plays through things, and that’s what you love about him,” Thibodeau said. “He is a warrior. And so every time someone comes back, you know it's something. I don’t want to speculate until we have the information.”
The scene was shocking.
Randle is best known for his availability. He has played in all 46 of the Knicks' games so far this season and the first 77 games of the 2022-23 season before missing the last five due to an ankle injury that ultimately led to offseason surgery.
He is famous for playing through bumps and bruises.
“That’s the best thing about him,” Thibodeau said. “He has a very high pain tolerance.”
But on Saturday, after hitting the deck, he jumped back up with a dislocated shoulder and immediately went to the locker room, a rare occurrence. His teammate Jalen Brunson said seeing Randle fall and then limp toward the tunnel elicited an “Oh, s—” reaction from him.
Until Randle went down with the injury with 4:27 left in Saturday's game, it seemed like nothing could go wrong for the Knicks.
They had just beaten the defending champion Denver Nuggets 122-84 on Thursday and followed the loss with a breakout fourth quarter to extend their three-point lead over the Heat to 17. After the win over Miami, the Knicks are now 12-12. 2 since trading OG Anunoby.
The Knicks — who are 29-17 this season, good for fourth place in the Eastern Conference — were on a roll, and Randle was in the thick of it.
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Averaging 24.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists, he is a candidate, if not a favorite, to make his third All-Star Game in four years. And he often did that because of plays like the one where he got injured fighting through crowds on his way to the basket, forcing fouls and using his strength to get to the basket.
After the game, the Knicks made no allegations of foul play against the Heat. In fact, New York simply referred to Jaquez's attempted attack as a basketball play.
“The thing is, both teams play hard,” Thibodeau said. “So there will be a lot of difficult plays like that. You don't want to see it. I don't want anyone on our team or his team to get hurt. But that's part of the game. The only way to ensure someone doesn’t get hurt is to never play.”
And now the Knicks are waiting for more information about Randle's future.
“You don’t want to see that from anyone, especially with the way he played,” Brunson said. “He means a lot to us.”
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(Photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)