Knicks Trade Ideas to Capitalize on Julius Randle's Rising Stock
The New York Knicks are seeing two important leaps from Julius Randle.
The first is the early headline-grabber involving Randle commanding legitimate NBA All-Star interest. He's going for 22 points, 11 rebounds and six assists per night—a line only matched by MVP candidate Nikola Jokic—which would be more than enough to garner his first-ever selection.
The second, though, is more important to the future of this franchise. He's becoming a legitimate trade chip. Before any 'Bockers backers take issue with that status and hope to have Randle around for the long haul, the time to sell is now. His stock is peaking like it got a Reddit boost, and at 26 years old, he's far enough from the timeline of the long-term core the Knicks should be exploring all opportunities.
So what might the market bear for the rising Randle? These three options seem reasonable.
Squeeze a 1st-Round Pick out of the Hornets
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The dominoes are starting to drop in the right places for the Charlotte Hornets.
After quietly constructing an interesting core the past few seasons, Buzz City erupted with a pair of splashes this summer. Between the drafting of LaMelo Ball and the signing of Gordon Hayward, the Hornets finally had real reason to be excited about their present—and ecstatic about their future.
But the center position remains a weak spot. Cody Zeller and Bismack Biyombo aren't signed past this season, and P.J. Washington might not have the bulk to hold up as a small-ball big.
Randle, though, could add another dimension to this frontcourt, and he was reportedly on Charlotte's radar at the last trade deadline. He wasn't worth a first-round pick back then, but given his rise and the Hornets', maybe they would pay that price now.
Pry Assets from the Wizards
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If the Washington Wizards are serious about keeping Bradley Beal, then it's long past time for them to get him some offensive help.
The current scoring leader upped his advantage on Wednesday night with a 47-point, six-assist gem, but the Wizards squandered it with a double-digit loss to the well-below-.500 New Orleans Pelicans. This was his fourth time of the short season scoring at least 39 points, and Washington is somehow 0-4 in those contests.
Washington can't keep squandering these opportunities or it will effectively push Beal out the door. When asked whether he was frustrated Wednesday night, he responded, "Is the sky blue?"
Oof.
This is either nearing red alert for the Wizards or already past it. If they're banking on being the former, they need to scramble to get a potential difference-maker like Randle. Even if his production dipped a bit outside of New York, it would still give Beal an overdue lift. If that's enough to make Washington part with something like a protected first-rounder and a prospect (Troy Brown Jr.), New York almost has to bite.
Convince Timberwolves He's Their Missing PF
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The Minnesota Timberwolves had serious hopes of making noise this season. After all, they thought highly enough of themselves to give the Golden State Warriors a top-three protected pick for D'Angelo Russell at least season's deadline.
Despite a disastrous start—plagued by dumpster-fire defense, inconsistent offense and Karl-Anthony Towns' absences—Minnesota must be careful about waving the white flag. A core of Towns, Russell and Malik Beasley is meant to be playoff-competitive sooner rather than later, and if it can't reach that point, Towns might seek a ticket out of Minnesota.
Plugging a glaring void at power forward might help ease some concerns. The Wolves are looking for answers there that Juancho Hernangomez, Jarred Vanderbilt and Jaden McDaniels can't provide.
Randle wouldn't do much to help the defense, but the Wolves are trying to win with offense anyway, so they might as well chase all the points they can get. If that pursuit could convince them to part with a top prospect like Jarrett Culver (2019's sixth overall pick), Ricky Rubio (the ball-mover the Randle-less Knicks would need) and some level of draft considerations, that should be enough for the Knicks to deem selling high on Randle is the right call.
All stats current through games played on Jan. 26 and used courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.
