Amar’e Stoudemire Returns To Court After Missing Four Weeks With Back Injury

Stoudemire has been out of action since March 24 with a bulging disk in his back. The Knicks have fared well in his absence, going 8-4 in the 12 games he’s missed.

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According to Woodson, Stoudemire has experienced no setbacks during his recovery from injury. The plan is to see how the forward feels following practice on Thursday and make a decision from there for Friday’s game. Woodson has said he will “absolutely” start Stoudemire when the player is ready to return.

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Marc Berman of the New York Post reports that Stoudemire will receive an epidural steroid injection that will be a temporary fix for the injury, allowing the player to return to action in the short term.

A doctor in Miami offered a second opinion that this is an acceptable short-term solution for the problem, but the consensus medical opinion is that Stoudemire will need to undergo surgery in the offseason to prevent his back injury from becoming a recurring problem in the future.

There was a fear that Stoudemire would need surgery that would knock him out for the season, so this is good news in the sense that this timetable allows for him to return for the playoffs if the Knicks get there. However, the injury does come at an especially bad time for Stoudemire himself, as he was just starting to regain his all-star form after struggling for most of the season.

Stoudemire is averaging just 17.6 points and eight rebounds per game on 47.7 percent shooting this season. All of those figures are his lowest in a full season since 2003-04.