Amar'e Stoudemire Injury: Updates on Knicks Star's Knee

New York Knicks star Amar'e Stoudemire has been out of action due to knee surgery, but he is hoping to return this postseason.

UPDATE: Thursday, May 9 at 2:10 p.m. ET by Sam Westmoreland 

It sounds as though Amar'e Stoudemire is slowly working himself back up to full game action, according to the New York Post's Marc Berman. Berman reports that Knicks coach Mike Woodson expects his veteran power forward to play roughly 10-15 minutes in Saturday's Game 3 clash with the Indiana Pacers. 

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UPDATE: Monday, May 6, at 2:22 p.m. ET by Tom Kinslow

Good news for Knicks fans, as it looks like Amar'e Stoudemire will return to the lineup for Game 3 vs. Indiana on Saturday, per Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.

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“The only way I wouldn’t be [available for Game 3] is if I don’t recover well from today and if I don’t recover well from the following practice [Wednesday],” Stoudemire said. “If there  is any setback from that, then that’ll be difficult to deal with. But hopefully everything goes well.”

Said Knicks coach Mike Woodson: “‘If he doesn’t have any setbacks he’ll probably suit up Saturday.”

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UPDATE: Saturday, May 4, at 4:39 p.m. ET by Kyle Vassalo

ESPN's Ian Begley passes on this information from Mike Woodson: 

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Woodson said Stoudemire will scrimmage with his teammates on Thursday. If his knee responds well, he will scrimmage again on Friday.

"If he feels fine after Friday then I think we will play him Saturday," Woodson said.

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UPDATE: Saturday, May 4 at 2:34 p.m. ET by Brandon Galvin

Exciting news for Knicks fans, as Amar'e Stoudemire reportedly could return for Game 3 against the Indiana Pacers, according to ESPN's Jared Zwerling.

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UPDATE: Friday, April 19 at 2:58 p.m. ET by Kyle Vassalo

According to Newsday's Al Iannazzone, Mike Woodson believes Amar'e will eventually return:

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ESPN's Ian Begley reported the following:

Stoudemire played 29 minutes in the Knicks' one-point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, but he did not participate in the team's shootaround on Saturday.

The news of the injury—coupled with the ongoing injury concerns of Carmelo Anthony—will make for terrible viewing for Knicks fans. After all, the franchise was truly starting to dominate in the Eastern Conference and looked prime for a strong playoff run—something that is very up in the air now.

New York will no doubt still be in a competitive spot come the start of the 2013 NBA playoffs, currently sitting at 37-22 with the third-best record in the East.

It's hard not to see that record dropping somewhat given the injuries to Stoudemire and Anthony, especially with the former likely to miss six weeks of action. That would take the the 30-year-old right up until the start of the playoffs, with the regular season concluding on April 17, 2013.

Either way, Stoudemire will definitely be missed by the Knicks, though it's hard to say that a knee injury for the big man comes as too much of a surprise.

Stoudemire already missed the first two months of the season due to recovery from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He also underwent microfracture surgery in October 2005, and has reportedly had his contract with the Knicks uninsured due to the plethora of injuries that have come his way.

And that's without mentioning his broken hand in the playoffs last year.

Not having Stoudemire on hand for the next six weeks will no doubt come as a huge blow for New York, with the veteran averaging 14.2 points on .577 shooting for the year—despite only playing 23.5 minutes per game and not starting once all season.

His inside presence and knowledge are invaluable to the team, as is his production off the bench and ability to consistently make big plays at both ends.

Tyson Chandler said of Stoudemire's absence (per the New York Daily News) that it definitely hurts, but "that's something we're prepared to do. You play basketball [and] this is the New York Knicks—it's the team, it's not tennis or golf."

However, having said that, there's no doubting his injury is a huge blow for the Knicks this year, and one that will have a profound impact on the 2013 playoffs.

Just how big of an impact still remains to be seen.

Will Amar'e Stoudemire be right for the start of the 2013 NBA playoffs?

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