Absent from the major five of Knicks last week, against Cleveland and Milwaukee, RJ Barrett found his teammates on the boards of Madison Square Garden this Monday evening, signing a successful comeback (26 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists) in New York’s victory against the Clippers, for James Harden’s first.
However, the Canadian winger is not “cured”: his left knee is still creaking, despite last week’s rest. The Duke alum thinks the discomfort will persist, and he wants to live with it as long as it’s not insurmountable.
“ I try not to think about it too much. It’s a little squeaky, but I deal with it “, thus declared the Toronto native after Monday’s victory. “ I will deal with the pain, but it is above all a mental work. »
Relatively spared from injuries since the start of his career in 2019, RJ Barrett is therefore not ideally starting his fifth season on a physical level, but he assures that there is nothing to worry about.
“ I will continue to follow treatment, it will be fine. It’s just that I’ve been playing a lot of basketball lately. », he adds, he who has in fact chained three seasons with more than 70 matches and nearly 35 minutes on average per match, without forgetting a FIBA campaign this summer with Canada. “ I’ll hold on, it’ll be fine. »
In any case, we hope so for him, as he has made a solid start to the campaign for the moment (22 points at 48% success including 44% from distance, 3.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists), and he has just ‘elsewhere to become the youngest player in Knicks history, ahead of Patrick Ewing, to reach the mark of 5,000 career points scored.
| RJ Barrett | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Party | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2019-20 | NYK | 56 | 30 | 40.2 | 32.0 | 61.4 | 0.9 | 4.1 | 5.0 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 14.3 |
| 2020-21 | NYK | 72 | 35 | 44.1 | 40.1 | 74.6 | 0.9 | 4.8 | 5.8 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 0.3 | 17.6 |
| 2021-22 | NYK | 70 | 35 | 40.8 | 34.2 | 71.4 | 0.9 | 4.9 | 5.8 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 20.0 |
| 2022-23 | NYK | 73 | 34 | 43.4 | 31.0 | 74.0 | 0.8 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 0.2 | 19.6 |
| 2023-24 | NYK | 5 | 31 | 47.5 | 44.0 | 85.2 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 0.2 | 22.0 |
| Total | 276 | 34 | 42.3 | 34.5 | 71.2 | 0.9 | 4.5 | 5.4 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 18.2 | |
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive rebound; Tot = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; Pts = Points.
