New York Knicks: Julius Randle Should Still Get a Max Contract Extension

The New York Knicks should still extend their star despite playoff struggles.

The New York Knicks’ season ended on Wednesday night as they fell 103-89 to the Atlanta Hawks, losing the series in five games. It was certainly a disappointing conclusion, but the year as a whole should be viewed as a major success.

At the end of last season, the team had no direction, no coach, question marks over all young players, and still hadn’t adjusted to the modern game. At the end of this season, the Knicks have a defensive identity, a coach of the year finalist, a legitimate young core, and finished 3rd in the league in team three-point percentage.

Perhaps most importantly, they have a star. Julius Randle defied all expectations this season as he won the league’s Most Improved Player award (MIP). He became the first Knick to ever average at least 20/10/5 for a full season, doing so while also shooting 41% from three.

At just 26 years old, he likely still has his best basketball ahead of him.

His contract currently has a team option for just under $20 million for the following season, then he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer. The logical move would be to extend him. This seemed like a forgone conclusion a few weeks ago, but the postseason has made fans a bit antsy.

The bruising forward struggled in the playoffs. His averages of 18.0 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game don’t look too bad but he shot just 30% from the field and averaged 4.6 turnovers per contest. The Hawks sent 2-3 defenders at him on every possession and he seemingly became overwhelmed by their game plan.

The front office shouldn’t be swayed by that 5-game sample size and still offer the extension, trusting Randle to work hard in the offseason and come back better than ever. Here’s why.

New York Knicks: Julius Randle’s relatively low value

A fair amount of fans don’t want the front office to extend Randle anymore because they don’t believe he can be the top option on a championship team. While that may be true, that shouldn’t stop the front office from extending him.

NBA fans often get nervous when they hear the term “max contract” but that number is often different for players with certain accolades and years of NBA experience. For example, the max extension that Knicks can offer Julius Randle this summer works out to be 4 years and $106 million.

This would kick in after the next season, starting around $24 million with roughly 8% salary increases each year. For context, that “max contract” would make Randle just the 43rd highest-paid player in the league.

He would be earning less on an annual basis than other secondary options such as CJ McCollum, Jrue Holiday, and Bam Adebayo. Randle might be just the second or third best player on a potential Knicks championship contender, but it doesn’t matter as much when his contract extension will be paying him like one.

After suiting up for three separate teams over the past four seasons, Randle is likely looking for a place to settle down for a while and would be happy to accept another 4 years playing for the team that he wants to retire for.

It would also be wise to get this extension done as soon as possible.

New York Knicks: An extension would be more expensive next summer

Other fans want the Knicks front office to wait and evaluate Randle for another full season before offering him a contract extension, but that would be extremely risky. If the team waits until summer 2022, Randle’s extension would now start at around $35 million per year.

That extra $10 million would put a significant dent in the Knicks’ cap space moving forward and would hurt them in a year where many prominent superstars are expected to be available on the free agency market.

Players including Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal, Zach LaVine, and Russell Westbrook could all be available in the 2022 offseason. Losing $10 million because the Knicks wanted to wait on a Randle extension could potentially end up costing New York another star.

Team President Leon Rose and the rest of the team’s front office shouldn’t delay, tacking on another four years to Randle’s deal immediately.

Past recipients of the MIP award such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jimmy Butler, and Paul George have shown that this is most likely the beginning of a great stretch of basketball rather than a flash in the pan season from Randle.

The Knicks have an All-Star on their hands who is one of the most uniquely skilled bigs in the league with excellent passing vision and the ability to score from all three levels. He’s also just starting to enter the prime years of his career.

The team needs to extend him this summer, one disappointing playoff series shouldn’t change that.