WASHINGTON, DC — Landry Shamet’s first sensations were shock and pain.
Lots of pain.
“It just hurts,” Shamet said in an interview with The Post. “There was no part after it happened where it didn’t hurt for probably about five days.”
There also was no ambiguity about the nature of Shamet’s injury.
Or the unfortunate timing.
Just four days before final roster cuts — and with his contract unguaranteed — Shamet’s limp shooting arm told the story.
Like anybody who saw the stomach-churning replay, the veteran Knicks guard immediately understood his shoulder was dislodged from its socket.
“Yeah, it was out,” Shamet said. “I’d never had that happen to me either, so I think that was part of it, too.
“Even if it didn’t turn out to be what it was, I think it still would have been pretty jarring, just having that type of injury. I’ll be 28 in March. I’ve been playing this game for a long time, and having an injury for the first time like that, that’s gonna be … you’re just like, ‘What? What’s happening?’ You’re trying to move your arm. You can’t move your arm. Your hand’s numb. You feel like you got shot.”
The subsequent five minutes “felt like forever,” Shamet recalled.
There was a lidocaine injection to numb the shoulder. Somebody popped it back in. X-rays followed.
Within four days of the injury, Shamet was waived by the Knicks and his contract disappeared.
After consulting doctors, Shamet chose the riskier path of rehabbing without surgery to hasten the return.
Julius Randle tried and failed the same path last season.
Shamet’s past 10 weeks — which hit a high mark in Orlando with a productive return to the Knicks rotation — were a roller coaster.
“There’s stretches in the first week where it’s just really acute and I can’t even lift my arm to wash under my arms or brush my teeth,” Shamet said. “There’s periods of time where you’re like, ‘God,’ And that’s what I talk about with the mental piece. Not only are you dealing with injury, rehabbing something you’ve never dealt with before, but now you’re away from your teams, kind of out of rhythm. So that part could be challenging. And there were days for sure where it was pretty bleak. Like, Groundhog Day. Like, ‘Ahh, we’re still here. It still hurts.’
“But then you had days where there were big jumps and you’re like, ‘OK.’ So both feelings were prevalent.”
Friday night felt like one of those encouraging days for Shamet.
In his third game since re-signing on a one-year deal, he was reinserted into the rotation, which Tom Thibodeau expanded to nine players to accommodate Shamet, and dropped seven points in 10 minutes with two steals while hitting 3 of 4 from the field.
His addition to the rotation is potentially a big deal for the Knicks (21-10), whose biggest flaw has been depth.
They were dead last in the NBA in bench scoring (just 20.8 points per game) and playing time heading into Saturday against the Wizards.
No other team was close.
As a result, New York’s starters have carried the league’s top minutes burden.
But with Shamet’s addition Friday night, Thibodeau expanded his rotation from eight to nine players.
OG Anunoby, who has been wearing wraps on his surgically repaired right elbow and lower left leg, played his fewest minutes of the season (28).
Shamet helped bring that balance while hitting his lone 3-point attempt.
“It still works,” Shamet said of his shot.
That wasn’t always a given. Getting to this point was a painful, unpredictable process.
“I couldn’t use my right arm for six weeks,” he said.
