Raymond Felton says arrest ‘is not a distraction to this team’

New York Knicks guard Raymond Felton was back practicing with the team on Wednesday, one day after he was released on $25,000 bail after being charged with one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree and one count of criminal possession of a firearm.

“I want to start off by saying thank you to my teammates, thank you to the fans, to my family, to my friends, everybody for their support in this situation,” Felton said in a statement. “This is not a distraction to this team. I’m focusing on finishing out this season, finishing out these games with my teammates. And, um, going down to Miami, focusing on this next game at task versus the defending champs.

“As far as speaking on what’s going on off the court with me, there will be no comment. Speaking on that. If you’ve got any questions, anything dealing with that, speak with my lawyer. But other than that, I’m here to concentrate on this team, finish this season out with the New York Knicks. And see what happens, man. Trying to make it to the playoffs. We’re 5 1/2 games out, 25 games left, so I’m really focusing on that with these guys, with the team and trying to make that happen.”

Knicks coach Mike Woodson said Felton will play Thursday night against the Miami Heat.

“I spoke to him last night,” Woodson said. “And I think he’s committed and focused. I thought today when he came in he was on board in terms of what we were trying to get accomplished in practice today. So I think that’s not going to be an issue. I’ve just got to get him ready to go for tomorrow. We’ve got a big game in Miami.”