Julius Randle is walking into Brooklyn with low outside expectations, but there’s a real chance he could carve out a place in franchise history if things go right.
The veteran forward is the kind of proven scorer a young Nets team needs, and he’s already making clear he believes the group can outperform the 18-64 projection ESPN gave them for next season. That forecast would leave Brooklyn with two fewer wins than it had last year, but Randle’s arrival gives the team a very different kind of ceiling.
New York Post writer Andrew Crane pointed to one particularly rare possibility: if Randle can match the production he posted the last time he was the Knicks’ primary scorer in 2023-24, when he averaged 24.0 points per game, he could become only the second player ever to make an All-Star team for both New York franchises. The only player to do it so far is Michael Ray Richardson.
Randle spent five seasons with the Knicks after signing with the team in the 2019 offseason on a three-year, $63 million deal. Over that stretch, the 6-foot-10 forward grew into a No. 1 option and settled in as a steady 20-point scorer for four straight seasons. His size made him hard to handle, and once his jump shot became a real part of his game, defenders had to respect that too.
He attempted more than five threes per game in four of his five seasons in New York, and he hit a career-best 41.1% from deep in the 2020-21 season. Along the way, he became a dependable veteran scorer and earned three All-Star selections in 2021, 2023 and 2024.
The path to another All-Star nod won’t be simple. Randle is up against a crowded field of forwards that includes Jayson Tatum, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard, now that the Los Angeles Clippers - Toronto Raptors trade is official.
Richardson’s place in this conversation remains a striking one. Drafted fourth overall by the Knicks in 1978 out of Montana, he played four seasons in New York and made three consecutive All-Star teams from 1979-80 through 1981-82. In his first All-Star season, he led the league with 10.1 assists per game and 1.2 steals per game, then followed that with back-to-back First Team All-Defense honors.
In Other News...
Nets Rebuild Could Force Some Uncomfortable Expansion Draft Decisions
If the NBA does move toward expansion by the 2026-27 season, the Nets could find themselves in an uncomfortable spot, forced to sort through a roster that is still very much in the middle of a rebuild. The scenario has already prompted some early guesswork from analysts Dan Favale and Grant Hughes, who looked at how Brooklyn might handle an expansion draft modeled after the leagues 2004 rules, with contract status and long-term team direction both factoring into the decision-making.
The exercise is especially relevant now because commissioner Adam Silver has recently spoken about the possibility of expansion, including the kind of new-market buzz that comes with cities like Las Vegas. For Brooklyn, the challenge would not just be losing a player, but deciding which pieces are truly worth shielding when the bigger goal is to keep the rebuild moving without getting caught flat-footed if the league adds another team or two. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Just Became Part Of A Brutal NBA Warning Story
For a franchise that has spent plenty of time trying to carve out its own identity in New York, the latest cautionary tale out of the NBA can feel uncomfortably familiar. Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon recently drew a line between the Clippers long-running shadow problem with the Lakers and the way the Nets have often lived in the Knicks orbit, with both clubs trying to prove they are more than the citys second option.
The Clippers push to force their way into the elite, including the aggressive pursuit of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, was framed as the kind of win-now move that can look bold in the moment and messy later on. Joey Linn also reported that the Lakers comparison helped fuel some questionable thinking around salary cap rules, which makes the warning relevant in Brooklyn too: chasing status in a rivals market can lead a team to decisions it may regret long after the spotlight fades. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Face A Defining Choice With No Clear Franchise Star
The Nets are heading into next season with a roster that does not yet feature an obvious franchise centerpiece, and that alone puts a different kind of pressure on Brooklyns front office. With the team projected to sit near the bottom of the Eastern Conference and its first-round pick tied up by a swap right owned by Houston, the usual incentives around simply waiting for the draft are not there in the same way.
That leaves the organization weighing a more aggressive path, one that would involve using its flexibility to chase a star through the trade market and give the roster a better chance to get back to the postseason. There is some protection in the setup, too, since the Nets have room to maneuver on contracts and limited downside if the year goes sideways, but the bigger question is whether they decide this is the moment to act or another season to keep building. [Read more 🡒]