Getty Kevin Garnett at the 55th NAACP Image Awards Golf Invitational on March 12.
Following a Game 7 loss in the Conference Semifinals, Julius Randle‘s future with the New York Knicks is in question as they begin an offseason of retooling.
On a May 20 episode of “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith asked Kevin Garnett if New York needs to invest in another number one option.
As he was answering, Smith voiced that he does not view Randle as that caliber a player. Garnett was fiery with his response.
“What is Randle? Man, Julius Randle is a 25 and 10 guy in this league,” Garnett told Smith. “You tripping. And he grew his game with the three ball. Man, y’all tripping on Julius Randle. Julius Randle is one of the harder guards. And he’s left handed, he has a three ball, he can play make.”
Randle averaged 24 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 5 assists in 46 regular season games.
Garnett argues that the risk of disrupting the Knicks’ chemistry or style of play by adding a different star is reason to run it back with the current roster next season.
“You know what happens when you bring in a superstar, when you bring in someone else,” Garnett continued. “That superstar, you gotta intertwine him in with the fabric of what the Knicks are. The Knicks are gritty, and gruddy, they play for 48 minutes, they’re Thibs…A lot of superstars ain’t that these days. They ain’t fitting in, playing defense. I love how the Knicks are. The Knicks are perfect. The Knicks should not be touched. Let’s run this two years with this team, and then talk about that superstar (expletive) later.”
New York ran into a number of issues in the 2024 playoffs. Randle being sidelined is near top of the list. But is that reason to trade 29-year old All-Star forward?
The rest of the league will be watching as the Knicks decide, as he’s eligible for an extension starting August 3.
Teams ‘Monitoring’ Randle, Knicks Extension Talks
At the center of the speculation surrounding Randle, is his $32.4-million player option for the 2025-2026 season.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that other NBA teams are keeping an eye on Randle’s upcoming negotiations.
“Julius Randle, he’s got a player option for 2024-2025,” Charania said on a May 20 episode of “Run It Back” on FanDuel TV. “Teams are monitoring the situation for sure because how they handle that extension situation, if that is a conversation, what transpires I think that will be interesting. Because you think about movable assets, salaries, obviously Julius Randle has got the number if you are to make a big, big trade.”
New York can offer him a maximum, four-year, $181.5 million extension, if he declines his 2025-2026 player option.
If he opts in, those figures drop to three years and $140.3 million, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
New York Never Reached It’s Ceiling in 2023-2024
There’s little to envy about the Knicks’ situation following a second-straight elimination in the Conference Semifinals.
Because the sample size of the team they’ve assembled is not big enough to reinforce any tough roster decisions.
Leon Rose and the New York front office swung for the fences in trading for OG Anunoby. What followed was a 12-2 run for the Knicks, before Randle went down with his shoulder injury.
In games where Anunoby and Jalen Brunson were both available, New York went 19-2.
According to Cleaning the Glass, with all of Anunoby, Brunson, and Randle on the floor, the Knicks outscored opponents by 26.1 points per 100 possessions.
New York scored 130.8 points per and allowed just 104.7. Those numbers rank in the 100th and 98th percentile among all NBA teams.
All of the Anunoby metrics imply he was the missing piece for a title contender Knicks team. But the team’s starting five didn’t play a second together in the playoffs.
Rose and the front office will do a lot more of trusting their gut than the numbers this offseason, without a large enough sample size to back franchise altering roster decisions.
Anunoby’s free agency and Randle’s extension headline the team’s agenda.
With each player having a fair share of injury woes on their ledger, and only 14 games played together, it’s not an easy sell either way.
But if it’s up to Garnett, New York will test the validity of a small, small sample size and run it back.
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