Joakim Noah to undergo season-ending knee surgery

Monday has been a busy day in Knicks-land.

First, The Vertical reported that Brandon Jennings was being waived, and his roster spot was going to be taken by free agent Chasson Randle, who was recently released by the 76ers.

A few hours later, Woj dropped another bomb, reporting that Joakim Noah was shutting it down for the season to have arthroscopic knee surgery. He has been sidelined for the last seven games with a sore left hamstring. That was just one of a series of injuries that derailed his season.

According to Woj’s sources:

The surgery is expected to be a “clean up” of the left knee, league sources said.

Noah, who is in the first year of his mega $72-million contract, had an underwhelming first campaign with the Knicks. The former DPOY averaged 5.0 points, 8.8 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in his 46 starts for New York–all well below his career averages.

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Unlike Jennings, who was on a one-year deal, we still have a few years of Noah–barring an unlikely trade. Noah just turned 32 and his abilities are clearly on the decline. He showed flashes this season, particularly when the Knicks played the Bulls and that one game against Atlanta, but this kind of operation at this point in his career is not a good sign.

As they’ve been doing in his absence, Hornacek will have the rest of the season to test out different combinations of Kristaps Porzingis, Willy Hernangomez and Kyle O’Quinn in the front court.