Report: Knicks Want To Keep Julius Randle After Acquiring Mikal Bridges

According to NBA insider Ian Begley of SNY, the New York Knicks want to keep Julius Randle. 

The Knicks acquired Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets.

New York now has Randle, Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Donte DiVincenzo as its top players. 

“But the Knicks didn’t pivot from the Bridges trade with a plan to move Randle, per people in touch with the team,” Begley wrote. “I’m not here to predict the future and say definitively that the Knicks won’t trade Randle, but the Bridges trade did not trigger a distinct plan to make that kind of trade, per people in touch with the team.”

The Knicks lost to the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the 2024 playoffs in seven games. Randle dislocated his right shoulder on January 27 against the Miami Heat and missed the rest of the season.

Randle is eligible to sign an extension with the Knicks on August 3. New York could offer the All-Star a contract as large as $181.5 million over four years. 

The 29-year-old Randle appeared in 46 games in 2023-24. He averaged 24.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists while shooting 47.2% from the field, 31.1% from beyond the arc and 78.1% from the free-throw line. 

Randle signed with the Knicks in the summer of 2019 after playing for the New Orleans Pelicans in 2018-19. He’s averaging 22.6 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.3 blocks in a New York uniform.

The Knicks signed Randle to a four-year, $117 million extension in August 2021. Randle, who won the 2020-21 Most Improved Player of the Year Award, will make $27.6 million in 2024-25. 

Randle has career averages of 19.1 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.4 blocks with the Los Angeles Lakers, Pelicans and Knicks. He was the seventh overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Lakers out of Kentucky. 

Bridges averaged 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.4 blocks in 2023-24 while shooting 43.6% from the field, 37.2% from beyond the arc and 81.4% from the free-throw line. The forward will make $23.3 million next season.