JULIUS OR THEM?
Whether Randle stays, goes at heart of Knicks' offseason
TOWARDS an argument for continuity, there’s always January. You might remember it as the best Knicks month in 30 years. It was stupendous basketball. The Knicks were balanced offensively. They were a defensive juggernaut following the arrival of OG Anunoby. They had a Death Lineup to finish fourth quarters. They won 12 of 14 games. It was the closest Tom Thibodeau had this past season to a full squad. Only Mitchell Robinson was missing. Then Julius Randle tumbled over Jaime Jaquez Jr., and here we are, roughly four months later, contemplating the validity and sustainability of January.
It’s the biggest question of the Knicks’ summer, and Randle sits at its center. If he’s not the most important ad- dition to the roster next season, the 29-year-old could easily be its most important subtraction via trade.
After all, it’s hard to arrive at a sensible package that doesn’t include Randle for a high-salaried star player. Not impossible (Bojan Bogdanovic and Mitchell Robinson could be combined for salary-matching purposes instead, for instance), just difficult. And the Knicks have set up themselves to be in the market for a star player.
The rest of the offseason stuff is more cutand-dry — extend Thibodeau’s contract, resign Anunoby (as The Post reported, people around the league believe his salary will start between $30 million and $40 million), re-sign Isaiah Hartenstein and offer Jalen Brunson an extension.
But with Randle, who is eligible for an extension and undoubtedly will want big money after previously signing at a discount, the questions will also be about the trade market.
If Giannis Antetokounmpo demands out of Milwaukee, sure, throw Randle, the kitchen sink, every draft pick and The Sphere at the negotiation.
If it’s Devin Booker, remove one of those things.
If it’s Mikal Bridges, Brandon Ingram, KarlAnthony Towns or Donovan Mitchell, let the dig-in-your-heels haggling commence.
If it’s Trae Young or Darius Garland, no thank you.
It’s only May, and the market has yet to reveal itself, but the Knicks are in a position to prioritize fit over name recognition. Giant risks aren’t necessary when two starters are returning from injury.
That brings us back to Randle and a recent comment from Kevin Garnett.
“You know what happens when you bring in a superstar and somebody else in? That superstar, you have to intertwine him with the fabric of what the Knicks are,” Garnett said on “The Stephen A. Smith Show.” “The Knicks are gritty and play for 48 minutes. They’re Thibs. If you can’t fit that ... The Knicks are perfect. The Knicks should not be touched.”
That’s a fair point. Not everybody can play for Thibodeau. We’re reminded of that annually in The Athletic player’s poll. It’s another thing to consider. Randle isn’t Thibsian in his commitment to defense like Garnett, but he is Thibs-ian in the way he pushes to play every game.
It’s an increasingly rare trait in today’s NBA. Plus, there’s a growing connection between the city and the three-time All-Star.
We saw that toward the end of Game 5 against the Pacers, the highest moment of the series for the Knicks. The MSG fans, joyous with their blowout triumph and searching for happy targets, started chanting for “Jul-ius Randle.” Randle, sitting at the end of the bench with that surgically repaired shoulder, stood up to pretend like was checking in. His son started chanting with the fans.
In the larger and complicated context, it was super cool. Randle hadn’t played since dislocating his shoulder and could’ve easily been forgotten, maybe even cast off as unnecessary because the Knicks appeared poised for their first conference finals since MapQuest’s heyday.
Instead, the fans acknowledged Randle’s contributions. Then they did it again at Wednesday night’s Rangers game at MSG, where Randle was presented on the Jumbotron.
This shouldn’t be noteworthy, by the way. A home crowd embracing its All-Star is about as unique as ambiguous advice inside a fortune cookie. But there’s a reason we’re detailing it. Almost exactly a year ago, Knicks fans were removing a Randle poster from a wall outside MSG before stomping on it, dancing on it, kicking it.
He was the scapegoat after the secondround defeat to the Heat, and the visceral reaction underscored the schizophrenic relationship between the power forward and the MSG crowd. One moment, it’s chanting “MVP;” the next, it’s booing Randle, and he’s gesturing back with a thumbs-down to symbolize, “Shut the f--k up.”
Now, the Knicks and their fans again are relying on Randle to understand their ceiling. And it’s really about two things: How real was January? What other star is available?