The New York Knicks rewarded All-Star power forward Julius Randle with a massive extension this off-season. With the two sides connecting on a four-year, $117 million deal, Randle will remain with the team until at least the 2024-25 season, including a player option during the 2025-26 campaign when he turns 30-years-old.
However, Randle did the Knicks a solid by keeping his salary hit under $30 million per season, allowing them to target another max-contract player down the road and fit RJ Barrett’s potential extension.
Last season, Randle saw increases in multiple categories, including points, assist, and total rebounds. He averaged 24.1 points, 6.0 assists, and tallied 10.2 rebounds, setting career-highs in every category. He also shot 45.6% from the field and 41.1% from three-point range. Playing 37.6 minutes per game on average, Randle became not only the focal point for the team’s offense but their go-to player in nearly every scenario.
However, it was his three-point shooting that saw tremendous success, as his second-best rate was 34.4% back in 2018 with the Pelicans. Interestingly, Randle attempted a ton of three-point shots unassisted, landing at 20.6%, which was far higher than his 6.3% rate during the 2019-20 season.
Randle’s long-range shooting was unprecedented improvements:
In fact, 28% of Randle’s points came from beyond the arc, which was also a career-high, beating his second-best mark by 13%. Sometimes, attempts can be a misleading statistic, but considering he connected on 41% of his shots from three, these numbers correlate nicely and provide a positive result. For example, during his 2015-16 season, Randle took 30% of his three-point shots unassisted but only saw 3.3% of his total point production come from 3-PT land, hitting on just .278 of his attempts.
With the acquisitions of Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker, Randle will likely see his scoring efficiency continue to improve, especially with better facilitators over the course of the season. Better point guard play should elevate his game, especially with his percentage of points coming off assists, instead of having to run the offense on his own and create opportunities for himself.
The Knicks have playmakers who will take pressure off Randle, which will increase his productivity in the scoring department and allow him to work off his teammates instead of doing all the heavy lifting himself.