Julius Randle had surgery on his left ankle

New York Knicks forward Julius Randle had a surgical procedure on Friday to repair his left ankle.

Randle originally injured the ankle late in the regular season when Bam Adebayo — in what would become a disturbing pattern for him when facing the Knicks — fell on Randle’s leg. Randle made an amazing comeback in Game 1 of the first round, but struggled mightily thereafter. He reinjured the same ankle in Game 5 against the Cavaliers, when Caris LeVert landed on him while shooting. Randle would miss Game 1 of the Heat series, but returned for Game 2. Unfortunately, he wasn’t effective in the least, and displayed some of the obnoxious tendencies (loafing on defense, griping at teammates) that he displayed in past seasons.

According to the Knicks, Randle should be ready to resume basketball activities sometime this summer. This will be big offseason for Randle, who has never really put together back-to-back dominant seasons in his NBA career. He trained like a beast last summer following a terrible 2021-22 season, and regained his all-NBA form. Hopefully he can get his ankle (and his mind) right, and come back strong in the fall.