According to a former Knicks executive, trading out knicks top man would be a grave mistake.
Over the past six months, the New York Knicks have gradually built a squad worthy of a championship, and they may be able to end their journey with one of its best players. But according to a former general manager of the Knicks, the franchise would make a critical error if they did so.
Former general manager Scott Perry believes Julius Randle should stay with the Knicks.
In the midst of a wave of trade rumors (via Scott Davis of The Sporting News), Scott Perry, the general manager of the Knicks from the summer of 2017 until the summer of 2023, recently appeared on the “Hoop Genius” podcast and expressed his opinion about how important it is for the team to hold onto All-Star Julius Randle for the time being.
People tend to lose sight of Julius Randle’s identity. The only other three-time All-Star on his team is Julius Randle. Only he has been named an All-NBA player twice. Perry stated, “You can’t be hurrying to get him out of the building.
“And while I adore Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby, you shouldn’t run offense through them. They benefit from playing with and against the best players. When they play off of Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson, they are at their best. Because against a certain defense, those are the two players you truly have the ability to shoot well. Hold onto Julius Randle until you can find another All-Star or All-NBA player to take his place. The Knicks would still be strong without him, but they would miss having a player who can score against a certain defense so that Jalen Brunson wouldn’t have to carry the entire load when things went wrong.
When considering deals for their two-time All-NBA player, the Knicks are not acting foolishly. Randle is a versatile player on the court who has a track record of scoring 24–25 points a game. It would be a disservice to his reputation to downplay how important his slicing, inside presence, and shot-making skills have been to the Knicks’ recent rise to prominence.
Nevertheless, the Kentucky product’s poor postseason performance, mediocre defense, and aggressive style of play do not mesh well with the Knicks’ newfound depth surrounding him and All-Star Jalen Brunson after six months of making pivotal trades in the free agency market. The Knicks have three options for handling Randle’s circumstances going forward.
Knicks have a lot of mouths to feed which could diminish Randle’s shot attempts
To start with, New York could respect Perry’s request and maintain Randle’s support. However, that would result in a starting lineup where their four best players—Jalen Brunson (21.4 FGA), OG Anunoby (11.1 FGA), Mikal Bridges (15.8 FGA), and Randle (18.2 FGA)—all need a same amount of touches in the offensive attack.
The fact that Bridges has already experienced being a team’s primary scorer for two seasons—including a 2022–23 campaign in which he averaged 26.1 points per game for the Brooklyn Nets—doesn’t help either. With so much potential ahead of him as he approaches his 29th season, that might be too delicious of a taste for him to give up.
The same is true for Anunoby, a player who has long been predicted to be a three-and-d star. Even though he willingly worked his way into the Knicks’ rotation last season, he too might desire a bigger role in 2024–2025. Despite the NBA’s recent move toward egolessness, player egos are still an issue in every season.
Finally, Brunson came very close to earning league MVP the previous time around, and even a drop to three shot attempts per game might have an effect on his production to please his teammates. According to recent reports, he is very open to signing a team-friendly contract extension, which speaks volumes about his humility and win-first approach toward the team. However, similar to Anunoby and Bridges, he might want to maintain playing at MVP level, which would require similar touches from 2023 to 24.
