The season has yet to begin, but the Knicks have a dizzying injury merry-go-round. Add Raymond Felton to the list of wounded, with Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin missing practice Saturday but Metta World Peace, Pablo Prigioni and Amar’e Stoudemire (kind of, sort of) all in.
Felton’s left hamstring tightened up during Thursday’s preseason win over Washington, which limited him to 15 minutes against the Wizards and caused him to miss Saturday’s practice as well.
“I pulled it in the last game. I’m good,” Felton said. “They’re sitting me out to just rest a little bit. If I had to play I could play. It’s totally up them. If they told me to rest a game I would. … They told me to take some time off rather than strain it and be out two or three weeks. Preseason, these games don’t really count, so just rest up.’’
Knicks coach Mike Woodson was noncommittal about Felton’s status for Monday’s preseason game in Toronto. Martin, however, has no chance of playing against the Raptors.
“Oh no, not at all. He’s still rehabbing, doing all the conditioning pretty much off the floor,’’ Woodson said. “He’ll go on the road as well, and depending on how things progress with him, there’s a chance he can be on the floor practicing next week, too. So that’s our hopes. We’ll see how all this plays out.’’
Despite insisting Martin’s knee was sound, Woodson didn’t seem all that confident in the big man playing in the opener, all a result of an ankle injury from late last season.
“His knees are fine, he feels great there,” Woodson said. “It’s just he’s nursing his ankle.
“I can’t tell you when he actually hurt it. I know this summer he dealt with it and we were monitoring him. … With him it’s still day-to-day. I’m not going to do anything silly with him, because the bottom line is he’s here for the long run and it’s a long season.’’
Shumpert was limited to doing left-handed work only, with a sleeve to protect his sprained right elbow, suffered Thursday. Both Prigioni (elbow) and World Peace (ankle) practiced and are expected to play. Smith (knee) rested Saturday but will go on the Toronto/Green Bay, Wis., road trip in hopes of scrimmaging at some point.