When Julius Randle signed with the Knicks in the summertime of 2019, he joined a staff that had simply suffered its sixth consecutive dropping season.
The Knicks have been recent off of a 17-win marketing campaign that matched the worst season in franchise historical past.
Days earlier, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving had spurned them for the crossborough Nets.
It was comprehensible that Randle’s three-year, $63 million contract went a bit beneath the radar on the time, however the energy ahead proved instrumental within the Knicks’ turnaround.
Friday evening marked Randle’s first sport again at Madison Sq. Backyard because the Knicks traded him and Donte DiVincenzo to the Minnesota Timberwolves within the three-team blockbuster that introduced heart Karl-Anthony Cities to New York.
“He had a great run and helped lift the team up,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau mentioned Friday of Randle. “He not only excelled individually, but the team excelled while he was here.”
Cities didn’t play Friday as a consequence of a sprained thumb, whereas DiVincenzo sat with a sprained toe, however Randle earned a loud ovation throughout pregame introductions.
Randle averaged 22.6 factors, 9.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists per sport and earned three All-Star choices in his 5 seasons with the Knicks.
The Knicks made the playoffs in his second season — Thibodeau’s first — and continued to ascend with the next arrivals of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and others.
Randle, 30, was not an ideal participant with the Knicks.
The ball would stick an excessive amount of to him at occasions, resulting in poor shot choice.
His statistics dipped throughout his two postseason appearances, and he didn’t play in final yr’s run to Recreation 7 of the Japanese Convention semifinals as a consequence of a season-ending shoulder harm.
He infamously gave a thumbs-down gesture to Knicks followers who had been booing on the Backyard throughout a 2022 victory.
However Randle’s tenure is one Thibodeau seems again on fondly.
“He did a terrific job for us,” Thibodeau mentioned.
DiVincenzo, in the meantime, signed a four-year, $50 million contract with the Knicks in 2023. He in the end performed just one season with the Knicks, however he rapidly emerged as a fan favourite.
The sharp-shooting DiVincenzo thrived alongside former Villanova teammates Brunson and Hart and set a Knicks single-season report for 3-pointers by making 283 final yr.
The fanfare solely grew when DiVincenzo drilled game-winning 3-pointers in Recreation 2 of the Knicks’ first-round playoff sequence in opposition to the Philadelphia 76ers and in Recreation 1 of their second-round sequence with the Indiana Pacers.
“Donte was here for a lot less time, but he had a great impact,” Thibodeau mentioned. “Both guys were classy guys, played hard all the time, and did a really good job for us.”
However this offseason spelled the tip of Randle and DiVincenzo’s stints in New York.
The Knicks and Randle failed to achieve a contract extension, whereas the departure of Isaiah Hartenstein and the continued absence of Mitchell Robinson following Might’s ankle surgical procedure left the Knicks with no beginning heart.
They noticed a possibility so as to add Cities, a four-time All-Star who was about to start a four-year, $224 million contract extension.
Cities was coming off of a quiet Western Convention Finals, had been enjoying out of place at energy ahead to accommodate Rudy Gobert, and was not Minnesota’s focus as a result of emergence of Anthony Edwards.
The Knicks and Wolves made the commerce on Oct. 2, lower than three weeks earlier than the beginning of the common season, with the Charlotte Hornets serving to to facilitate it.
The 6-11 Cities rapidly proved to be an ideal match, thriving as a pick-and-roll associate with Brunson whereas placing up career-best taking pictures numbers.
“We knew we were getting a good player, and in order to get a good player, you need to give up good players,” Thibodeau mentioned. “The biggest thing was the need at the center position. We knew losing Isaiah and then having Mitch injured, we had to fill that need. We’ve been very pleased, obviously, with Karl.”
Cities, who hails from close by New Jersey, is averaging 25.4 factors per sport whereas taking pictures 55.0% from the sphere and 44.9% from 3-point vary. He’s averaging a career-high 13.9 rebounds per sport.
His Knicks entered Friday at 27-15, good for third place within the Japanese Convention, even when a latest 3-5 stretch renewed considerations in regards to the staff’s depth following the commerce.
The Timberwolves, in the meantime, arrived on the Backyard with a disappointing 21-19 report after ending third within the West final season at 56-26 and advancing to the convention finals.
Randle didn’t play within the Wolves’ preseason sport on the Backyard. He scored 24 factors of their 133-107 loss to the Knicks in Minnesota final month.
Randle entered Friday averaging 19.5 factors per sport on 47.8% taking pictures, however the new-look Wolves’ chemistry stays a “work in progress,” head coach Chris Finch mentioned.
“I’ve got nothing but a lot of admiration for Julius for what we’ve asked him to do,” Finch mentioned. “We’ve asked him to score. We’ve asked him to play-make. We’ve asked him to guard in a lot of different situations. His biggest contribution for us has been doing all of that.
“Our inconsistencies so far this season, everybody’s kind of trying to adjust and figure out the new reality, and he’s been at the front of that. He’s done it all.”
Initially Revealed: January 17, 2025 at 8:04 PM EST
