Just as the New York Knicks were looking good, this season has brought them back down to earth. Now, according to one source, the team’s top player has seen enough.
In light of the team’s struggles and various controversies, Julius Randle is apparently set to request a trade from the Knicks organization.
Source: People close to Julius Randle expect him to approach Knicks after this season and discuss trade opportunities, he feels the FO hasn’t supported him through tough times this year and promises about how the offense would go through him has stopped.
**BREAKING NBA NEWS**
Source: People close to Julius Randle expect him to approach Knicks after this season and discuss trade opportunities, he feels the FO hasn’t supported him through tough times this year and promises about how the offense would go through him has stopped.
— IB THE GAMBLER 🔌 (@incarceratedbob) March 29, 2022
The report was validated by The New York Post, which provided some additional context to the situation:
But some people around the league feel he’s acting in a “James Harden type of way” that suggests he wants a new place of work next season. Randle has lost his strongest ally in assistant coach Kenny Payne, his former mentor at Kentucky who left this month to be the head coach at Louisville. Some NBA sources believe the Knicks will shop Randle for a package revolving around a center if they lose Mitchell Robinson.
Randle, 27, has had some of his best performances wearing a Knicks jersey. Over the past three years, he has elevated himself to All-Star status with averages of 21.3 points, 10 rebounds, and 0.4 blocks per game on 44% shooting.
Unfortunately, things haven’t been nearly as good this season. Randle is playing poorly and the Knicks are 11th in the East after making the playoffs last year. It has led some to speculate he has already completely checked out.
Randle’s overall psyche is of concern inside the Knicks organization, according to an NBA source.
The source said Randle didn’t come into training camp in the same type of sensational shape as he did last season, before Thibodeau’s first year guiding the Knicks. Perhaps that prevented him from being the type of two-way player — giving energy on both sides of the ball — that he was during his second team All-NBA season.
Randle has seemed angry all year, battling with fans through his “thumbs-down’’ gesture, battling with referees, battling with assistant coaches, battling with Johnson when the Knicks had all the momentum and were on the verge of snapping their six-game slide.
Randle still has 4 years left on his deal, which will pay him roughly $104 million. After being named an All-Star last season, he has shown that he is capable of being an elite-level player.
But it remains to be seen if he can ever return to that state of play and if the Knicks will ever find him a new home. All we can do is just wait and see how it all plays out.
