The New York Knicks didn't get Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving in 2019, but they did get Julius Randle. At the time, they were clowned for it, but little did anyone know that it would lay the foundation for the team's first championship in 53 years.
In 2018-19, the season before Randle arrived, the Knicks finished dead last in the league with a 17-65 record. He chose New York anyway because he wanted to take on the challenge of leading the Knicks back to relevance — and he did just that. He saw something no other free agent did.
It didn't happen in Randle's first season, as the team finished 21-45, 12th in the East, but it sure did in 2020-21. He led the Knicks back to the playoffs for the first time in eight years, earning his first All-Star and All-NBA nods because of his efforts. It was an electric time in New York (a small glimpse of what was to come), and rightfully so, after years of disappointment.
Julius Randle deserves another thank you for what he did for the Knicks
Three years after Randle arrived in New York, another free agent chose to leave his team for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson had connections with the organization, specifically Leon Rose, his godfather, but he didn't put them back on the map. Randle already did that.
He was there before Rose and Tom Thibodeau. He was there when New York was at what everyone assumed would be one of the organization's lowest points in history, and that's saying something.
It's unfair that his time with the Knicks ended the way it did, with a dislocated shoulder in January 2024, when they genuinely looked like one of the best teams in the league. Randle worked hard for several weeks to return in time for the playoffs, doing his best to avoid surgery, but that's the route he had to take in the end. He didn't step on the court for New York again.
The Knicks shocked everyone when they traded Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns right before the 2024-25 season began. It was the end of an era, a change hard to grasp, but one the Knicks needed to make to set them on the path to June 13, 2026.
Randle should be remembered for a lot more than helping New York land KAT, though that part matters. What matters more, though, is Randle giving fans and the city a reason to believe again. He reminded everyone what it felt like to win, and it was no fluke either.
Randle won't be immortalized in New York history for helping the Knicks end their title drought, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a sincere thank-you for helping them get there.
Add us as a preferred source on Google