Julius Randle’s Franchise Altering Years With the Knicks
The New York Knicks have officially begun their preseason, with a 111-109 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
They are sixteen days from beginning their highly anticipated 2024-2025 season, where they will look to end their 52-year title drought.
For the first time since 2018, they will begin the season with a name New York has become familiar with not on the roster: Julius Randle.
A Late Offseason Blockbuster
On September 27th, it was reported that the Knicks and Timberwolves had agreed on a shocking blockbuster trade with major ramifications. New York received big star man Karl Anthony-Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves, a huge piece added to the team as they look to push for a title. However, it came at a heavy price.
The Knicks gave up fan favorite sharpshooter Donte DiVincenzo and the man who arguably put the wheels that have led to this revelation of New York basketball in motion all the way back in 2019, Julius Randle.
Let’s look back at his time in New York: How it began, the impact it had in changing the trajectory of the franchise, and why it had to come to an end.
The Beginning
PHOTO: Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images
Julius Randle signed with the New York Knicks on July 9th, 2019, to a three-year, $63 million contract. New York was, simply put, not the place players wanted to go at the time. They were coming off a disastrous 2012-2019 campaign where they went 17-65, finishing dead last in the NBA. Meanwhile, across the river in Brooklyn, the Nets were coming off a successful 42-40 season, which resulted in a playoff berth. With the Knicks stumbling more and more every year since their last playoff berth back in 2013, there seemed to be a power vacuum in New York basketball, and the Nets saw their chance to make Brooklyn the place to be on June 30th, 2019. Brooklyn made a “clean sweep,” singing Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and DeAndrea Jordan, leaving the Knicks faithful distraught. The future had never looked more grim for the orange and blue, but when no one else wanted to, Julius Randle came and provided a glimmer of hope.
The 2019-2020 NBA season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Knicks finished with a slight improvement over the previous season with a 21-45 record, with sixteen games remaining, which they would not get to play. In 64 games played, Julius Randle finished with 19.5 points per game, averaging 9.7 rebounds per game and 3.1 assists in his first season as a Knick.
Throughout the 2019-20 season and during the following summer, the franchise underwent some major changes. David Fizdale was fired from the head coach position in December of 2019. On March 2nd, 2020, Leon Rose was named president of the New York Knicks. Following the Knicks not being invited to the NBA bubble, Leon Rose announced he expected to have a head coaching hire by mid to late July. On July 30th, 2020, Tom Thibodeau was officially hired as the head coach of the New York Knicks.
A Culture Rejuvenated
Going into the 2020-2021 NBA season, expectations for the Knicks were as low as ever, coming off another disappointing year. The shortened 72-game season began on the 23rd of December, and the Knicks faithful were largely expecting another underwhelming campaign. However, the Knicks got off to a surprising 5-3 start and kept surprising the league in what turned out to be a shocking turnaround season. New York finished 41-31 as the 4 seed in the Eastern Conference and clinched a playoff berth for the first time in eight years.
Many players contributed to this turnaround, but Julius Randle was undeniably the leader of this young Knicks squad who redefined the culture and future of the franchise. The power forward finished averaging 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 6.0 assists in the best season of his career to that point. He was selected as the first Knicks All-Star since Kristaps Porzgingis in 2017-2018 and was on the All-NBA second team. He also won the Most Improved Player award.
The Knicks were knocked out by the Atlanta Hawks in five games in the first round of the NBA playoffs, but the season was unequivocally a success for the franchise. The groundwork for what was to come and what the Knicks have now was truly laid down, and the culture that Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau instituted and the play and leadership of Julius Randle were the first catalysts of that.
A Step Back – And Then a Leap Forward
The Knicks went into the 2021-2022 season with higher expectations, coming off their first playoff appearance in eight years. However, the Knicks took a significant step back, finishing 37-45 and 11th in the East, missing out on the playoffs and the play-in tournament. Randle took a step back, averaging 20.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game.
Leon Rose and the Knicks front office were still confident in the vision they had set forward for the franchise surrounding the foundation laid down by Tom Thibodeau and his star player, Julius Randle. On July 12th, 2022, Jalen Brunson signed a four-year, $104 million contract with New York. The signing was at the time widely as an overpay, but now it is looked back on as a bargain. Jalen Brunson has now become the star point guard New York needed to turn into a real contender. A budding star signed with the Knicks, in a way, showing how far the Knicks have come since Randle joined three years before that point.
The 2022-2023 season was a giant leap for the New York Knicks. Newly signed Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle led New York to another postseason appearance, their second in three years after not making it the previous eight. Josh Hart was acquired at the deadline, becoming a significant contributor down the stretch. The team finished 47-35 as the fifth seed in the East and took down the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round 4-1 for their first playoff series victory in a decade. The Miami Heat eliminated them in a six-game second-round contest. Randle finished the regular season averaging an impressive 25.1 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 4.1 assists in 77 games played. He was selected for his second All-Star game and was on the All-NBA third team. However, Randle faced heavy scrutiny and criticism after a disappointing playoff performance. He averaged 16.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists, as he saw his field goal percentage drop to 37.4% and three-point percentage drop to 25.8%
Despite a tough ending, the 2022-2023 season instilled new confidence and hope into the Knicks franchise turnaround. Julius Randle was under heavy scrutiny over his postseason showing. Over the summer, the Knicks signed Donte DiVincenzo and traded away former first-round pick Obi Toppin to the Indiana Pacers.
Randle’s Final Year in New York
PHOTO: Scott Wachter/Imagn Images
The 2023-2024 season began with high expectations for Brunson, Randle, and the rest of the Knicks. After a disappointing 17-15 start, New York made a huge trade that would end up truly turning around their season. On December 30th, 2023, the Knicks dealt RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for OG Anunoby, Precious Achuiwa, and Malachi Flynn. The Knicks went an incredible 14-2 in January, catapulting to the top of the standings. Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, and OG Anunoby were leading the way.
In a contest against the Miami Heat on January 27th, Randle went down hard after driving to the basket and had to come out of the game. It was later revealed he had dislocated his shoulder and was set to miss some time. A couple of months later, he was officially ruled out for the season. Randle averaged 24.0 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game in his 46 games played before going down with his injury. He was selected to his third All-Star game and was playing arguably the best basketball of his career along with the new-look Knicks in their dominant January before going down against Miami.
The Knicks would go on to finish 50-32 as the second seed in the East, their best finish in over a decade. They became more and more shorthanded throughout the season and the playoffs, and in the end, fell to the Indiana Pacers 130-109 in game 7 of the second round of the postseason.
Summer of Change
The Knicks went into the offseason knowing they were as close to true contention as they had been in a very long time but needed just a couple more moves to move the needle enough for the title push they are now ready for. On June 25th, New York and their crosstown rivals over in Brooklyn made a blockbuster deal, with the orange and blue receiving star wing Mikal Bridges, allowing him to reunite with his former Villanova teammates.
With the summer winding down and the new season approaching, the Knicks seemed ready to go into this season with the squad they had put together earlier in the summer. However, New York and Minnesota shocked the NBA world with the blockbuster deal they got done on September 27th.
The combination of Isaiah Hartenstein signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the news of Mitchell Robinson not returning to at least December put the Knicks in a tough position surrounding the center position. Karl Anthony-Towns is one of the most talented centers in the NBA. He holds the NBA record for most threes in a career by a center, with 935. In 62 games played last season, he averaged 21.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists as he helped lead the Timberwolves to their best season in franchise history, reaching the Western Conference Finals.
The trade has gotten mixed reception from the Knicks faithful. While Towns is an incredibly talented player, it’s bittersweet to see two fan favorites go. Karl Anthony-Towns coming over does undeniably move the needle. This is a completely new-look Knicks squad, ready to contend with the top of the NBA for a title.
Thank you, Julius
Julius Randle’s impact on the New York Knicks franchise is impossible to overstate. He came to New York when no one else wanted to. He gave a battered, bullied, and defeated fanbase and city hope where there had been none for so long before. When expectations were lowered after a disappointing start, he came back the next year and set them higher than ever, and since then, the Knicks haven’t looked back.
He and Tom Thibodeau laid down the groundwork that would set up something incredibly special for years to come and something that is seen now as the Knicks prepare for their most highly anticipated season in over two decades.
When Julius Randle came, the Knicks were the laughingstock of the NBA, as they had been for years. They were a team that hadn’t sniffed real contention in a very long time, and it was a seemingly unreachable dream ever to come close to a championship.
Now, five years later, as his time with the Knicks ends, he is leaving a franchise that was given hope and success that they hadn’t seen in years and is now a team that is set to contend for what New York has not seen in 52 years; an NBA title.
PHOTO: Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images
Photo: Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
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