Josh Hart said to NBA reporters that  OG Anunoby and Julius Randle return this season, he would be “pleasantly surprised.”

The arrival of April just indicates that the NBA playoffs will soon take place. Unfortunately, it appears that the club that survives the playoffs and takes home the Larry O’Brien trophy is the one who emerges victorious year after year. As a result, the New York Knicks would struggle to realize their championship aspirations, particularly because some of its important players—including star player Julius Randle—remain sidelined due to injury.

After sustaining a right shoulder dislocation during the Knicks’ January 27 game against the Miami Heat, Randle has now missed two complete months (28 games). It was originally stated that he would be reevaluated in two to three weeks after the injury, but it has now been nine weeks, and the most encouraging development regarding his rehabilitation from the injury is that he has already participated in “light contact” practice.

The latest information from The Athletic’s Shams Charania raises even more doubts about Julius Randle’s chances of making a comeback later in the Knicks season.

Fans of the Knicks won’t be wishing for this. Randle has 19 days remaining to heal from the severe shoulder injury he suffered, but given his current recovery trajectory, it might not be enough before the playoffs start on April 20. Josh Hart’s most recent remarks on the subject are also not encouraging for New York.

Josh Hart’s extremely negative remarks about Julius Randle and OG Anunoby’s respective injury recoveries generated a bit of a stir among Knicks supporters. After New York’s devastating 113–112 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night, Hart stated that the Knicks should travel ahead of time as though those two would not return and that he would be “pleasantly surprised” if they did.

Fans may need to take Hart’s remarks with a grain of salt because he is an expert at stirring things up. Maybe the Knicks’ Swiss army knife is just encouraging his teammates to keep going while they hold down the fort, doing everything within their power to win games even without two of their greatest players.

Whatever the situation, the Knicks will undoubtedly be concerned if they don’t play to their maximum potential coming into the postseason. Despite having a long list of embarrassing plays throughout the playoffs, Julius Randle is still an All-Star forward who causes problems for defenders, which makes things simpler for Jalen Brunson and co.