Whether you can’t stand the sight of him any longer or if you’re a Julius Randle apologist, one thing can’t be denied and it’s that he hasn’t been able to come close to replicating the magic that was the 2020-21 season for the New York Knicks.
After setting the world on fire last year by winning the Most Improved Player award and willing the Knicks to the fourth seed, along with their first playoff berth in nine years, Randle came plummeting back down to earth this season.
Some point their finger at his contract extension and consider that as the reason why he fell off so hard. It’s a tale as old as time…a player who had moderate success in the league overachieves in a contract year and gets the bag.
Others point to last season being so heavily affected by the pandemic and not having to play in front of crowds as the reason for Randle’s success. Whatever the reason, it seems like the guy just isn’t happy in New York and a lot of the fans don’t want him around, either.
Is Julius Randle going to get traded by the New York Knicks?
Randle’s body language and overall attitude have come into question on numerous occasions throughout the season. In a winning effort against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference on Monday, he simply didn’t care.
In fact, he did the opposite of care. Randle acted like he just lost the game and got all bent out of shape. His days in New York City are numbered.
After the linked video made its rounds across the Knicks’ Twitterverse, an interesting but unconfirmed rumor began to swirl.
If you fast forward to the 9:15 mark of the above video, you’ll hear some juicy yet unsubstantiated details about how Randle reportedly wants out of New York and could be requesting a trade this summer.
It seems as if the team is no longer his and now belongs to RJ Barrett anyways, so perhaps the right move to make would be to send Randle off to a team that he’d be more comfortable on. The Knicks could then build the future of the roster around the young core.
I’ll be discussing a few of the teams around the league who I believe could be a landing spot for the former All-Star if his tenure in New York ends in a trade.
3: The Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Knicks…err…I mean Mavericks seem like a very realistic landing spot for Randle for a multitude of reasons.
Firstly, he’s from Dallas. I doubt there’s anywhere on the planet he’d rather play much more than his hometown. He’d also be teaming back up with two of his buddies from last season, Reggie Bullock and Theo Pinson, along with a boatload of other former Knicks from before Randle’s time.
The Mavericks are clearly re-tooling their roster to fit better around Luka Doncic as evidenced by their somewhat shocking mid-season trade of another former Knick, Kristaps Porzingis. Not only is there a hole at the power forward spot, but today’s version of Randle is still a better player than Porzingis.
I’ve been saying, even since last season, that as good as Randle is, he’s got a bit of an ego. I believe that he needs to be paired with another player that’s undoubtedly and unquestionably better than he is in order for him to take a backseat and accept a lesser role.
Playing him alongside arguably one of the top-five players in the league in Doncic would accomplish just that. With Doncic getting all of the defense’s attention, it’d free up Randle to do a lot of things that he couldn’t in New York.
For example, what happened against Atlanta in the playoffs last year would never happen if Doncic was also on the court. The defense would simply not be able to afford to key in on Randle whenever he got the ball in the paint.
Dallas makes sense as a trade partner as well because they have something the Knicks want, Jalen Brunson. It’ll be interesting to see if there are any rumors during the offseason about the two teams discussing a trade and if either of those two names are involved.
2: Miami Heat
This one is a bit out there and if anything close to this ends up happening, it’ll be because the Miami Heat fell apart in the playoffs and needed to make a big, splashy move.
Miami is a great team. They’ve got a beautiful blend of young and veteran talent across the board. There are plenty of reasons why they’ve been in the title picture for three years now.
The Heat were sitting pretty atop the Eastern Conference for most of the season, up until recently when they started to tumble a bit.
As talented as they are, it’s troublesome to see them losing games they should certainly be winning at this stage of the season. They even lost to the Knicks on Mar. 25, yuck.
If their struggles continue into the postseason and they fall short of at least the Eastern Conference Finals, I’d assume that they’d make a big move. Since there aren’t many holes on the team, they’re limited in what they can do.
They can attempt to make a huge trade for a superstar like Donovan Mitchell or Bradley Beal and wipe out all of their young assets. Or they could make a smaller yet significant move for an upgrade at the one position in the starting lineup that’s considered to be a weakness – power forward.
Not to say that PJ Tucker is washed up because he’s great. He’s so great that he may very well opt-out of his contract this summer and seek a pay raise with another title contender next year.
The Heat also have good reason to make a trade like this because Duncan Robinson is rumored to be expendable. The sharpshooter has had an up-and-down season this year after receiving a massive payday this offseason (sounds familiar…).
With the recent emergence of players like Max Strus and Gabe Vincent, committing $20 million to a player who does nothing but shoots threes is silly. Both of those guys are more than capable of making up what Miami would lose if they traded Robinson at a fraction of the cost.
Perhaps a third team could get involved and take Robinson off their hands, or maybe they’d even keep him and send out for other pieces like Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel, and/or Evan Fournier. It’ll be compelling to see if something like this goes down or not.
1: New Orleans Pelicans
I don’t know this to be a fact, but I’d assume that New Orleans holds a small spot in Randle’s heart because after the Lakers opted to not bring him back after his rookie contract expired, one of the only teams that came calling was the Pelicans.
He only spent one season in The Big Easy, but one could argue that the year he spent there was the second-best statistical season of his career behind his All-Star campaign last year. Plus, New Orleans is doing some big things right now, even without star Zion Williamson.
They made a blockbuster deal at the trade deadline for CJ McCollum and it has seemingly turned their season around. They’re currently the ninth seed in the West and are looking to compete in the play-in tournament. No matter who they face, I know they’re going to be a tough out.
Now, in order for them to trade for Randle, they’d have to be parting ways with Williamson. The two wouldn’t be able to co-exist on the court at the same time.
Randle would instantly form a three-headed monster with McCollum and Brandon Ingram and would be a serious force in the West. If you get that team a star point guard, they could be a top-10 team in the league.
One of the more under-the-radar upsides of this union would be the frontcourt pairing of Randle and Jonas Valanciunas. There aren’t many centers in the league who I think would fit better next to him than the seven-foot big man.
Valanciunas is one of the best rebounders in the league, but he also commands the defense’s attention from wherever he is on the floor. That’d help create more space for Randle to drive and dish.
This option is probably the least likely to happen because of what the Pelicans would have to part ways with in the deal, but then again, it could be the most viable option for both sides if Williamson demands a trade this summer.
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