The New York Knicks have not performed as well as they had hoped this season after making the playoffs just last year. They’re currently the Eastern Conference’s 11th seed, three games under .500, and have gone 4-6 in their last ten games. (As of January 27th.)
According to recent rumors, the Knicks are considering moving several of their players and no one is untouchable on their roster. If the appropriate trade deal comes back for the Knicks, players like Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, and others may all be traded before the deadline.
NBA Trades: The Knicks should not trade Julius Randle
The Knicks need to be active at the deadline this year, but they also need to be wise about what they do, and trading Julius Randle would not be the smartest move for this team’s future.
He’s experiencing a down year compared to last year (when he scored 24.1 points per game). Yes, he has not performed as well as he had hoped this season, but that was to be anticipated given that he is being asked to do something he has never done in his career.
When the fans in Madison Square Garden started to see that tiny amount of success that they hadn’t seen for so many years, the pressure they threw Randle’s way seemed to really start to get to him.
All of this pressure is getting put on Julius Randle, but it also needs to be placed on the team as a whole. They clearly did not do a good enough job of acquiring the necessary pieces around him this past offseason.
If the Knicks want to be successful in the near future, they’ll need to pair Julius Randle with a true star. And instead of dealing him, they’ll need to make the right NBA trades at the deadline and attempt to acquire a player or two who can score 25 points every night.