Getty Julius Randle #30 and RJ Barrett #9 of the New York Knicks look for the rebound against the Miami Heat.
Julius Randle‘s consecutive playoff dud left New York Knicks fans so mad that some of them defaced his poster outside Madison Square Garden following their second-round exit.
Damn it’s over for Julius Randle
They’re ready to run Randle out of town.
But former Brooklyn Nets assistant general manager-turned ESPN’s NBA front office insider Bobby Marks warned them to be careful what they wish for.
“The thing is, you make one more wrong move, those being two games away from the Eastern Conference Finals would be two games into the play-in,” Marks said on KnicksFan TV.
Unless Randle is part of a blockbuster trade for a star to pair with Brunson, Marks is not keen on the idea of trading him just for the sake of getting rid of him.
“You go out and make a crazy trade, and it maybe helps you short term, but it sets you back long term here, and I think you have to be careful in taking that kind of approach. It’s almost like you’re building a puzzle — once you take a couple of pieces off, all of a sudden, they don’t fit anymore here — so I would just warn people to be careful as far as just like throwing Julius out the door and bringing back two role players,” Marks added.
Despite Randle shrinking under the bright lights of the playoffs anew, Marks contends that he was one of the major reasons the Knicks clinched the fifth seed.
Regular-Season Randle vs. Playoff Randle
Randle’s strong showing in the regular season — a career-high 25.1 points, 10.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists on a 46/34/76 shooting split — earned him his second All-Star berth and a spot in the All-NBA Third Team.
After an ankle injury forced him to sit out the final five games of the regular season, Randle was never the same.
His numbers plummeted to 16.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists on a putrid 37/26/71 shooting split in the playoffs against elite defenders — Cleveland’s Evan Mobley and Miami’s Bam Adebayo.
Dating back to his first playoff appearance in 2021 — a 4-1 opening-round series loss to Atlanta — Randle is just shooting 34.4% and 28.3% in the postseason.
Julius Randle’s Trade Market
Marks believes “Randle’s market is still strong” despite his poor showing in the playoffs because of his value contract.
“He’s got three years left on that [$117 million, four-year] contract extension. It’s a good number,” Marks said on KnicksFan TV. “I mean, the reality is it’s still a really good number. Is he your number two guy on a championship team? Probably not.”
Randle will enter next season as the 17th highest-paid forward in the league, according to Spotrac.
“If Randle is on the roster when training camp opens, it’s not the end of the world,” Marks added. “I mean, he’s still a really good player here. But I think you’re probably more open to listening to teams this year than maybe last year [when] his value was really low. I’m not ready to kind of kick him out the door, but I do think you have to be open to listening to what’s out there.”
If Randle stays, it’s clear he needs to shape up in the playoffs or get shipped out.
“If a year from now and Randle has another postseason [dud], and he’s got two
years left in his contract, then I would say, ‘yeah, maybe we’ve hit an expiration date,'” Mark said.