Knicks' Cam Reddish sidelined for rest of season with shoulder injury
New York Knicks forward Cam Reddish against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Cam Reddish finally had found a place on the Knicks, steadily gaining minutes and spurring a young, fast-paced bench unit. He scored 17 points Sunday to help kick-start the Knicks’ three-game winning streak.
But as suddenly as that success arrived, it came to an end. On Thursday, Reddish was ruled out for the remainder of the season with an injury to the AC joint of his right shoulder suffered Monday In Sacramento.
Reddish was injured as he tumbled over Kings guard Davion Mitchell, falling hard to the floor as he tried to block a fast-break layup in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. He was helped off the court, and as the Knicks continued on to Dallas, he returned to New York to be examined by team doctors. They ruled him out for the rest of the season, which is down to 16 games.
ESPN reported that Reddish is expected to be sidelined for six weeks, which will take him past the end of the regular season, but the team believes he will be able to work through the summer.
The timing of the injury spoils any opportunity for the Knicks to get a further look at him this season. They still don’t have an answer to the value of the trade that sent Kevin Knox and a first-round draft pick to the Hawks for Reddish.
In the 30 games since the trade, Reddish appeared in 15, averaging 14.3 minutes. The numbers have not been anything that would make the Knicks feel confident in the remaining year of his rookie contract — 6.1 points per game, 41.5% shooting overall, 25.8% shooting from beyond the arc.
There have been flashes of athleticism but also lapses that have confounded his coaches since his one season at Duke. He entered college on equal footing with RJ Barrett, but while teammates Zion Williamson went No. 1 overall and Barrett to the Knicks at No. 3 in the 2019 NBA Draft, Reddish went No. 10 to Atlanta and never found a consistent role.
Reddish heard his name floated in trade talk again at the Feb.10 deadline but shrugged it off.
"I learned that a few weeks go," he said after the deadline passed. "Nothing’s going to faze me. It is what it is. I’m ready for pretty much anything. I’m here in New York, happy to be here and hoping to get some more runs."
He seemed to find a place with the Knicks recently as they began to experiment with their younger players. With rookie Quentin Grimes injured and Derrick Rose, Kemba Walker and Obi Toppin out, coach Tom Thibodeau had little choice but to insert Reddish into a larger role. In his last two games, he paired with Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and rookies Miles McBride and Jericho Sims to provide an athletic group that sped up the offense and pressured on defense.
"We’re just getting stops and running," Barrett said of that group. "We’re not really running a whole lot of offense. Just play hard, and it was fun to play like that. I was really happy. Especially Deuce and Cam and Quick, they played really well. The contribution from those guys was great."
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
