Quentin Grimes has missed most of the season due to lingering foot soreness.
He said on Wednesday that the injury may be a result of too much training in the offseason.
“They said it was kind of a overuse thing. Just being in the gym a lot (in the summer). Coming back at night, going back to Houston, working on it and working on it. Then (Tom Thibodeau) had us in there for sure, working out (presumably in training camp)… It was an overuse thing really.”
The Knicks ruled Grimes out of Friday’s home opener against Detroit. His timetable to return is unclear. Grimes said his soreness ‘flared up’ after he played in New York’s preseason finale last Friday.
Grimes sat out of the Knicks’ first three preseason games due to soreness.
The chronology of his rehab has been strange. Why would the Knicks want Grimes to play in Friday’s preseason game if they knew there was a chance he would re-aggravate the injury?
The Knicks now won’t clear Grimes until he is pain-free and no longer at risk to aggravate the injury.
“He’s got to be able to sustain it. So if he ramps it up and there’s anything there, it’s basically day-to-day. So just follow the protocol and plan that the trainers have laid out,” the coach said.
With Grimes out, Cam Reddish was in the rotation for the Knicks’ season-opening loss in Memphis. Reddish was brilliant in the fourth quarter and overtime, scoring 14 of his 22 points. He made six of seven shots in the final two frames, keying the Knicks’ fourth-quarter comeback.
Reddish will presumably be in the rotation on Friday against Detroit. If he plays well against the Pistons and in the coming weeks, the Knicks will have a tough decision to make. Who do we take out of the rotation to make room for Reddish?
Grimes probably won’t be the answer to that question. Thibodeau is a big fan of the second-year guard. When Atlanta wanted Grimes in the Reddish trade last January, Thibodeau was strongly opposed to putting him in the deal.
So it’s fair to assume Grimes will be in Thibodeau’s rotation when he’s healthy. It’s inaccurate, however, to say Grimes was ‘untouchable’ in the Knicks’ Donovan Mitchell negotiations with Utah.
Utah had Grimes ranked highly on its power ranking of sorts of the Knicks prospects. Grimes was below RJ Barrett, but he certainly had fans in Utah. The Knicks made offers that included Grimes and they included offers that featured Barrett. But they were mostly unwilling to put both players in a deal for Mitchell. That’s part of the reason Mitchell is in Cleveland.
Assuming the Knicks’ rehab plan for Grimes is a success, he will return to the court at some point in the next few weeks.
After a strong rookie season, Grimes is looking forward to getting back out there. He said on Wednesday that he was almost pain-free.
"Just try to ice it as much as I can. Stay off it,” Grimes said. “It feels really good right now. Just have to monitor, not do too much on it so it doesn’t get too sore.”