There is initial optimism about this Landry Shamet will not need surgery after dislocating his right shoulder, SNY has learned.
The Knicks announced earlier Friday that Shamet would be reevaluated at a later date.
He suffered the injury in the third quarter of the Knicks’ win over Charlotte on Tuesday.
If he can avoid surgery, the Knicks won’t necessarily have to part with Shamet ahead of the regular season. They can keep him on the roster and let him rehab the injury. I would expect them to do the same if the club concluded that Shamet can heal the injury through rehabilitation.
Shamet has an Exhibit 9 contract. So if the Knicks were to part with him now, they would only owe him $15,000 and would have extra cap space to work with. But Shamet is expected to be an integral part of their rotation. So if he can avoid surgery and return to the floor after a period of rehab, that would undoubtedly be a positive for both Shamet and the Knicks.
With Shamet on the roster, the Knicks have thirteen players on standard NBA contracts.
I would expect them to convert the great man Ariel Hukporti‘s two-way contract turns into a standard deal at some point. That would give them 14 players on standard NBA contracts.
The Knicks would then have an open spot for a two-way player.
