Julius Randle On the Move?

By on

        The New York Knicks' playoff hopes ended heartbreakingly. Losing game seven at home against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. They looked like a championship contender this year after winning 50 games in the regular season, having a top-ten defense and offense, and having a deep roster. Sadly injuries robbed the Knicks from advancing to the conference finals. Knicks All-Star guard Jalen Brunson said he doesn't view this season as a success since they didn't win the championship or weren't close but the fact is that this is the best the franchise has looked in a long time. 



        Julius Randle was one of many injuries to come up for the Knicks. He badly hurt his shoulder in a regular season matchup against the Miami Heat towards the end of Jan. He would make an effort to get back on the court before the playoffs but sadly the shoulder wasn't responding well enough to get back into playing condition. Randle underwent season-ending surgery, averaging 24 points per game while shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 31.1 percent from three-point range. 



        While the Knicks would have loved to have had Randle available for the playoffs, one could argue he might not have been reliable. He's only been to the postseason twice in his ten-year NBA career and the small sample size doesn't help his case. Randle's scoring and efficiency from the field and three-point range drop significantly compared to his regular season numbers. He is in the final year of his deal, next year being a player option, and teams are monitoring his availability on the trade block. 



        Randle is set to make $30.3 million next season and is eligible for a contract extension of up to four years, $181 million. His salary along with their draft capital could be used to facilitate trades for a star such as Devin Booker, Brandon Ingram, Kevin Durant, or a solid role player like Mikal Bridges. If the Knicks don't extend Randle, he could be moved by the Feb. deadline or even as soon as this summer. They have a busy offseason ahead of them with some of their own players being free agents and looking to keep this competitive trend going. 
Location: Miami, FL, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Are the Sacramento Kings Contenders?

By on
Image
Last season the Sacramento Kings were the most surprising team in the entire league. Before last season began the Kings have been known to be one of the worst franchises in the NBA, having missed the playoffs for 16 straight seasons. Last summer the Kings made moves that would later show a huge turning point for the franchise.  Starting with the head coach. Last season the Kings fired Head Coach Luke Walton after 2 seasons (the Kings had a record of 92-134 with Walton as their Head Coach). They then hired Golden State Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown. The Kings did not stop there as they had to make some improvements to the roster. First, the NBA Draft, with the number 4 overall pick the Kings took Forward Keegan Murray from Iowa State. Later, in free agency, they signed Guard Malik Monk to a 2-year, $19.4 Million dollar deal. Next, the Kings traded for Guard/3-pt specialist Kevin Huerter. It is amazing how the Kings were able to gain such a high-quality player while not having to g
Read more

From Division 2 to the NBA

By on
Image
          The Miami Heat have found great success when it comes to developing undrafted players and this season they had themselves another successful project with Forward Haywood Highsmith. After graduating high school in 2014 Highsmith took his basketball talents to Wheeling University, a Division 2 program. Highsmith would go on to play 4 seasons at Wheeling University and would enter the 2018 NBA draft. Haywood Highsmith would go undrafted but that did not stop him from pursuing the big leagues.            Highsmith would have a couple opportunities at making the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers however the Sixers didn't seem to have a reason to keep him so he got waived a few times. However he did not give up on his NBA dream and would continue to work on his game in the G-League with the Delaware Blue Coats [Philadelphia 76ers G-League affiliated team]. Haywood Highsmith also spent a season overseas in Germany. During the 2021-22 NBA season a lot of teams found themselves shor
Read more

Celtics Guard Inks New Deal

By on
Image
          Payton Pritchard has been quite the story for the Boston Celtics so far in his young NBA career. He was the 26th overall pick  back in the 2020 NBA draft. In his first three years in the league Pritchard has shown some offensive flashes especially with his shooting ability. However this past season Pritchard was in and out of the rotation, playing in just 48 games, which resulted in him requesting a trade however Boston did not necessarily entertain the idea. Pritchard clearly wants a consistent role in the Celtics' rotation and he may get that opportunity given all the moves the Celtics made this offseason and just recently was announced he has a signed a 4-year, $30 million contract extension with the Boston Celtics.           Pritchard did not see much playing time this past season given the elite guards ahead of him such as Marcus Smart, Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon. Averaging just 13 minutes a game in the 48 games he appeared in during the regular season. Howeve
Read more