Julius Randle’s name still carries baggage in New York, and Chris Finch’s pregame line on Monday made it easy to see why Knicks fans perked up.
Before Minnesota’s preseason win over the Knicks, Finch described his team this way: “We referred to ourselves as a moody team at times in the last couple of years, at times, and it’s probably gotten in our way,” Finch said. “We’ve traded moodiness for giddiness.”
Finch never singled Randle out, and he didn’t say the moodiness came only from him. But for Knicks fans, the connection was hard to miss.
Randle spent five productive seasons in New York from 2019-20 through 2023-24. He made three All-Star teams, won Most Improved Player in 2020-21 and eventually got dealt in the late 2024 offseason in the move that brought Karl-Anthony Towns to New York.
Even with the production, he never became fully embraced by the fanbase. His uneven postseason play was part of that. So was the way he sometimes carried himself.
There was the notorious thumbs-down toward the MSG crowd on January 6, 2022, during a comeback win over the Celtics. Afterward, Randle said he was telling fans to “shut the f-k up.”
Then there was March 23, 2023, when Randle was upset over a no-call at the end of the first half against the Orlando Magic. Immanuel Quickley stepped in to keep him from getting too close to the referee because Randle had already picked up a technical and was at risk of being ejected. Randle then got right in Quickley’s face and yelled at him to stay out of the way.
Another flashpoint came in 2022, when Randle smacked a laptop that video coordinator Scott King was holding while trying to show him something. Randle ended up getting in King’s face as well.
The on-court body language didn’t help either. At times, Randle looked checked out in huddles and never seemed to fully shake the mood swings that followed him around.
That was part of the backdrop heading into last season, when Randle was quoted in The Athletic about the end of his time with the Knicks.
Last season didn’t give him much of a reset. He again had a disappointing playoff run, and that left him out of favor with many Minnesota fans.
Now he’s back in New York with the Nets, a team with far less pressure and far less expectation. Two good teams moved on from him.
The Knicks’ side of the deal has worked out. Whether it ends the same way for Minnesota is still to be determined.
In Other News...
Knicks Still Have One Roster Decision That Could Get Expensive
The Knicks have started trimming the edges of their camp roster, officially waiving Tony Bradley, Ochai Agbaji and Drew Eubanks after bringing them in on non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 deals. Those moves narrow the competition and leave James Wiseman and Bruce Brown as the two remaining invitees still in the mix as the team sorts through its final decisions before the cutdown deadline.
For New York, the question now is less about bodies than about balance, with roster spots and salary cap considerations both part of the calculation. The Knicks have already cleared out three camp options, but the last choice on the board could carry more cost than the others, which is why the front office still has one decision left to make before the group is finalized. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Just Created A Roster Question Fans Will Not Ignore
The Knicks have quietly hit an important offseason checkpoint, and it has less to do with the next game than with the shape of the roster over the next few years. Contract talks with Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart have reportedly been paused, a move tied to owner James Dolans directive to avoid pushing the payroll beyond the NBAs second salary apron. For a team trying to stay in the contender conversation, that kind of financial caution has immediate basketball consequences.
Towns is eligible for a four-year max extension, with a deadline sitting in October 2026, while Hart is looking for a multi-year deal of his own. Both players have become central pieces of what the Knicks have built, which is why the pause is drawing so much attention from fans who see the current group as too good to casually tinker with. The bigger question now is whether New York can keep the core intact and still leave itself enough flexibility to compete in future seasons. [Read more 🡒]
Andre Drummond May Be More Important To The Knicks Than Expected
Andre Drummonds first preseason turn in a Knicks uniform offered a quick glimpse of why Mike Brown sounds intrigued by what the veteran big man could bring. In 12 minutes against Minnesota, Drummond chipped in four points, four rebounds, three blocks and a steal, but Brown was just as focused on the communication and defensive presence he brought to the floor.
For a second unit that still needs to sharpen its overall defense, that sort of stabilizing voice could matter more than the box score suggests. Brown views Drummond as a possible organizer on that end, and the real question now is how clearly that role gets defined once the games start counting and how quickly his impact shows up in the regular season. [Read more 🡒]