Knicks' Iman Shumpert unlikely to return until January -- at the earliest

Iman Shumpert tore his ACL and meniscus in the Knicks' first playoff game last season. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) By Rob Mahoney The 2012-13

Iman Shumpert tore his ACL and meniscus in the Knicks' first playoff game last season. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

By Rob Mahoney

The 2012-13 Knicks are borderline geriatric. They employ four players who are 38 or older, three more who are at least 30, and just one player -- second-year guard Iman Shumpert, 22 -- who is under 27. Yet at this point, Shumpert is a member of New York's rotation in theory only; an ACL and meniscus tear has kept Shumpert out of basketball action since April, and thus far Shumpert's status has been discussed largely in the context of a fuzzy recovery timeline. Every different source has put forward a unique projected return date, with early December, Christmas, the start of the new calendar year and mid-January supposedly all in play.

Yet thanks to a report from Marc Berman of the New York Post, we now have an updated return target courtesy of Shumpert himself:

“What [media members] are saying is not what we’re going by ... January, February is what we’re aiming for. I’m just trying to get healthy. When I get healthy, I’ll return to the court. I’m not going to come back and not be able to do the things I did last year and a little more. I want to come back and add something.’’

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