The battered core of the New York Knicks is recovering. The team announced Wednesday morning that Jalen Brunson underwent successful surgery on his broken left hand and will be reevaluated in six to eight weeks. The Knicks also announced that Bojan Bogdanović has undergone successful surgery on his left wrist and will be evaluated in six to eight weeks.
Brunson broke his hand in the third quarter of the Knicks’ Game 7 loss to the Indiana Pacers and did not return to the game. It was a brutal loss in the middle of a brutal loss, but at that point the Knicks were down by double digits and the game was all but decided. Brunson’s injury was just the final nail in the coffin.
Bogdanović had not been on the floor since the first round against the Philadelphia 76ers, when Nic Batum fell on his left ankle. The Knicks announced on April 30 that Bogdanovic would “undergo surgery on his left foot,” but it is not yet clear if he has done so yet. The wrist surgery is related to an injury he suffered earlier this season.
Injuries ultimately knocked the Knicks out of the playoffs. They entered the series against the Pacers without Bogdanović, Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson, and they only got more confused as time went on. By Game 7, they simply had nothing left.
But that was then. Looking to the future, they are already making progress to get that strong core of players healthy for the 2024-2025 season.
