Julius in the Wind?

The Knicks can offer Julius Randle a big extension later this summer. Will they? And if so, what happens if he doesn't take it?

Good morning! Summer Mailbag season continues today with a few questions about Julius Randle and one about Walker Kessler. But first, the newest Knick got introduced…

News & Notes

🏀 Welcome to Manhattan, Mikal.

Mr. Bridges had a fairly mundane introductory press conference, as you would expect from a guy who knows his way around a microphone. He was asked a few questions about whether he requested a trade from Brooklyn, which he summarily denied, and whether he and the Nova boys ever discussed teaming up before the trade happened (he gave kind of a non-answer to this).

The biggest takeaways and best lines, in no particular order:

• He seems like just about the nicest guy in the world.

• When asked about Thibs, he paused before saying, with a smile, “I see all the jokes.” He quickly added, rhetorically, “Who doesn't wanna play all the time?” and told a story about how he played over 50 minutes in a game as a Sun when he was “sick as a bat.” Remind me to steal that turn of phrase.

• Mikal made no effort to hide the fact that he wanted to get drafted by New York and thought he would be a Knick leading up to the draft night. Anyone remember who they took instead? I’m drawing a blank…

• He’s clearly an admirer of OG Anunoby. He made it sound like they have a pre-existing relationship and seems excited for what they can do together.

• On playing in MSG for the Knicks: “It’s just different.” You’re damn right it is.

As they say, giddy up.

🏀 Ian Begley poured even more cold water on the possibility of a Walker Kessler trade, reporting that Utah turned down an offer of multiple firsts from another team for Kessler in recent weeks.

That leads us to a mailbag question from Jesse:

What’s your top off for Kessler? Feels like a buy low opportunity and we’re already all in on the next two years at least.

This question came before Ian’s most recent report, so I’m not sure the “buy low” aspect holds.

To me, the Knicks have three tiers of easily tradable assets:

• Tier 1: An unprotected 2030 first round pick swap

• Tier 2: Deuce

• Tier 3: Everything else (Pistons pick, Wiz pick, a ‘26 swap, one of the rookies)

I’d begrudgingly move Deuce and something from Tier 3 for Kessler. I would not trade their 2023 swap.

Julius in the Wind?

On Monday, I laid out my top five remaining questions of the summer. Number one with a bullet was whether the Knicks and Julius Randle can/will/want to agree to an extension.

Let’s pick up where I left off with a couple mailbag questions, one from several weeks ago courtesy of Sean…

I'm kind of getting the same feeling I got about IQ's contract - namely that the front office will have serious reservations about anything close to a max extension -about Randle, which he will surely want. We've heard Ian Begley say that he thinks an extension with Randle is unlikely this summer. Do you foresee that means a trade this summer? Or that we'll go into next season with Randle's contract status as a big storyline?

…and another from a few days ago, courtesy of Steve Rieder:

Is it possible the Knicks’ front office is looking to move on from Julius? He is in the last year of his deal and will surely want the max. The new CBA makes it incredibly restrictive for teams over the second apron. He's also an incredible talent but not a perfect fit on this team.

Like Sean, Ian’s prediction resonated with me. Even after he made it very clear on the KFS pod that it was just a prediction as opposed to any sort of reporting, I know better than to ignore anything that comes out of the mouth of the GOAT.

My antenna stiffened even further after I went on Ian’s Putback show on the afternoon before the NBA Draft, and he pitched me the following question:

“If you bring OG back, you have Julius, you have Mikal Bridges, you have Jalen Brunson, and whoever is at center, do you then take Josh Hart or Donte DiVincenzo and bring one of those guys off the bench? To me, that creates an interesting dynamic, a potentially maybe troubling dynamic, in terms of, these guys, the Villanova guys coming off a great season and you’re bringing them off the bench and you have Julius coming off an injury. It just seems like - I don’t want to say an awkward fit - but from a basketball perspective, I wonder how it all works.”

Well then.