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As weird and wild as the Kemba Walker saga has been for the New York Knicks this season, Julius Randle’s situation has arguably been the stranger of the two. In 2020-21, Randle was a man possessed — willing the Knicks to a top-four playoff seed through grit, determination and previously unseen offensive versatility.
Now, he looks more like part of the problem than the solution to what ails the club this season.
Randle’s scoring average has dipped more than five points, his assists are down, his field goal percentage of 41.6 is the lowest of his career outside of his one-game rookie campaign and his deadly three-point rate from last season has dropped more than 10 points.
Along the way, he’s been combative with Knicks fans and, more recently, with longstanding members of the New York press corps.
Randle Gets Hot and Bothered Over Deadline Question
Following Knicks practice on Friday, Randle was holding court with members of the media when the New York Post’s Marc Berman asked him about his name being in trade rumors. The big man was noticeably peeved by the question.
“Who reported it?” he fired back, mid-question.
As Berman relayed that the Randle chatter has “been out there,” the Knicks pivot repeated his question multiple times; at one point he even uttered, “You don’t know — You just talking?”
The next words out of Randle’s mouth: “Good job, Marc. Next question.”
Berman eventually namechecked ESPN as one source — which prompted an accusation of “making stuff up” — while another reporter jumped in with SportsNet New York’s Ian Begley as another. In response, Randle dismissed the talk as hearsay.
“Sounds like gossip to me, Marc,” he said, before commenting on the Knicks front office. “I just trust them. I think they do a great job. It’s part of the reason we talked this summer, when I signed my extension, because I trust them.”
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Randle Has Monster Game, but ‘Time Is Running Out’
During the Knicks’ loss to the LA Lakers on Saturday, Randle looked to be in peak form once again. In 41 minutes of play, he put up 32 points on 11-of-22 shooting (and 2-of-4 from deep) while adding 16 rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots. However, he’ll need to keep it up if he hopes to flip the script on his and the Knicks’ season.
“For much of the night, Randle didn’t look like the guy who has spent much of [the season] playing his way toward yet another new job,” the New York Post‘s Ian O’Connor wrote of the effort.
“But he’s running dangerously low on time, and seems to know it; his ejection near the end of the Memphis loss the other night seemed the act of an overly frustrated man.”
So, too, did his fiery exchange with Berman.
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