Julius Randle should find out shortly before Tuesday’s game, at the fan, at the Garden, if he will play an additional game this season in the NBA elite.
The league will announce its All-Star reserves on Tuesday at 7pm on TNT, and Randle remains considered – but not a blockage – to be one of the seven players added to the Eastern Conference.
It would mark the first All-Star career designation for Randle, who is in his second season of three years, with $ 62.1 million with the Knicks.
The 26-year-old striker – and player Tom Thibodeau described him on Sunday as the Knicks’ “engine” – is certainly a well-deserved candidate.
Randle had the best career in points (23.2), rebounds (11.0), assists (5.5) and minutes (36.8) with the Knicks 15-16 starting Tuesday’s home game against Golden State. He also recorded 41.0 percent of the 3-point range, a significant improvement from the 29.5 percent he posted long-range in his first six NBA seasons.
The only other players with an average of at least 23-11-5 this season are Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee and Nikola Jokic of Denver.
However, those impressive numbers – and Knicks’ vast improvement – may still not be enough to get Randle a place in the East in the vote by the conference’s head coaches.
James Harden of the Nets and Jaylen Brown of Boston will definitely be added to the back field, with Ben Simmons also likely to be the second All-Star for Philadelphia, the conference leader. Celtics striker Jayson Tatum is also considering capturing one of the reserve pitches in front of the pitch.
That leaves only three openers in the 12-man team, with Randle probably competing with Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis, Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton, Miami’s Bam Adebayo, Philadelphia’s Tobias Harris, Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic, Charlotte’s Gordon Hayward and Detroit’s Jerami Grant. front, as well as guards Zach LaVine of Chicago, Trae Young of Atlanta and Jimmy Butler of Miami.
If not initially chosen, Randle could be added as a replacement if a selected player retires due to injury or COVID-19 concerns.
The starting unit for the East has Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid on the front field, with guards Kyrie Irving and Bradley Beal. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players as reserves.
Knicks announced Monday that limited tickets for the March 4 game against Detroit have been made available for public sale. Tickets were first opened to season ticket holders, followed by the general public, starting at $ 50, at nyknicks.com.