Knicks' Amar'e Stoudemire cleared for contact, participates in half-court drills

Knicks big man Amar'e Stoudemire underwent arthroscopic surgery on both knees during the offseason. (Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images) New York Knicks big man

Knicks big man Amar'e Stoudemire underwent arthroscopic surgery on both knees during the offseason. (Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images)

New York Knicks big man Amar'e Stoudemire participated in contract drills on Saturday for the first time since undergoing his third knee surgery in the past year during the offseason,

Stoudemire's status for the team's regular-season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 30 remains unclear, according to ESPNNewYork.com's Ian Begley.

The 30-year-old played just 29 games last season before undergoing arthroscopic surgery on both knees to clean out debris. He is entering the fourth year of a five-year, $100-million deal signed before the 2010-11 season.

From ESPNNewYork.com:

The next step for the six-time All-Star is to scrimmage.

"We just have to see how he feels tomorrow," Mike Woodson said. "That’s the key, making sure he doesn’t have any setbacks and we continue to build."

The Knicks and Stoudemire are hopeful he can play in the season opener on Oct. 30, but there are no guarantees at this point.

"If there’s no setbacks we hope he’ll be there for opening night," Woodson said. "We’ll have some practice time prior to us opening and we’ll scrimmage a lot more and try to hopefully tailor some minutes in the scrimmage that will carry over into the regular season. It’s a day at a time."

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