Three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA forward Julius Randle becomes eligible to sign a contract extension with the Knicks on Saturday.
Here’s what you need to know:
WHY IS RANDLE EXTENSION-ELIGIBLE NOW?
Randle first left the New Orleans Pelicans to sign a three-year, $62 million deal to join the Knicks in the summer of 2019. He then signed a four-year, $117 million contract extension in August 2021.
The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) states a player can sign a contract extension on the third anniversary after the previous extension was signed if the extension lengthens the current contract to five or six seasons.
Randle has one guaranteed year left on his deal with a player option in Year 4. If he were to sign an extension this summer, Year 1 of his extension would replace the current fourth-player option, bringing the total number of years remaining on his contract to five.
HOW MUCH CAN RANDLE GET IN AN EXTENSION?
The Knicks own Randle’s full Bird Rights, so they can exceed the $144.1 million salary cap to offer the All-Star forward an extension and a 40% raise on the final year of his salary, or a four-year, $181.5 million deal.
The Knicks did this with Jalen Brunson, who left an historic $113 million on the table and earned mayor of New York status by signing a four-year, $156.5 million contract extension earlier in the offseason.
WHY DID OG ANUNOBY GET MORE THAN BOTH BRUNSON AND RANDLE?
Anunoby forced the Knicks’ hand and received a five-year deal worth $212.5 million this offseason.
His situation greatly differed from both Randle and Brunson’s in one aspect: Anunoby became an unrestricted free agent this summer after the Knicks traded both RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors to acquire him, while both Brunson and Randle entered this season with at least one more season left on their respective contracts.
The Knicks had no choice but to pay Anunoby his desired salary or risk a critical piece of last season’s playoff run walking in free agency for nothing after surrendering valuable players to pry him from the Raptors.
WOULD RANDLE BE FORFEITING AS MUCH MONEY AS BRUNSON?
More.
Randle is entering Year 11 of his NBA career and is eligible for the 10-year veteran maximum contract of 35% of the salary cap.
Slated to turn 30 in November, this could be Randle’s last significant payday.
With the salary cap projected to spike the maximum of 10% to $155 million due to the NBA’s new media rights deal, Randle will be eligible next summer to sign a super max contract paying $54.25 million in Year 1 and $314.65 million over a five-year contract if the offer were to come from New York, or a four-year, $243 million max if the offer were to come from a competing team.
If the Knicks were to offer their maximum possible extension this summer, and if Randle were to accept the offer, he would be forfeiting $133.15 million in potential earnings if the 2025 max offer came from the Knicks and $61.5 million if the 2025 max offer came from another team.
IF? IS A RANDLE EXTENSION NOT A FOREGONE CONCLUSION?
Far from it, at least at the $181.5 million price tag.
It’s a discount on what Randle could command as an unrestricted free agent one summer from now, but it’s unclear if the All-Star forward could garner his full 2025 max should he decline the player option on the final year of his contract and test free agency in the summer of 2025.
Randle’s playoff struggles are chief among contract considerations: He shot 29.8% from the field in the Knicks’ 2021 five-game first-round exit at the hands of Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks, then struggled through an ankle injury in the 2023 playoffs before missing the Knicks’ miraculous second-round run last season.
Randle chalked his 2021 shooting struggles to nerves in his first-ever playoff appearance.
His fit is also in question on a Knicks roster hoping to compete with the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers to represent the Eastern Conference in the 2025 NBA Finals.
The Knicks project to start Brunson, Randle, Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Mitchell Robinson with Miles McBride, Cameron Payne, Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart, Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims coming off the bench. In a league becoming more versatile by the day, Randle exclusively plays the four (though some small-ball five may be in his future) and the Knicks can slide Anunoby and Bridges up one spot to play faster with another guard in the rotation alongside Brunson in the back court.
THERE HAS TO BE A CASE FOR THE KNICKS TO OFFER THE EXTENSION, RIGHT?
Of course.
Randle averaged 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists per game before his season ended prematurely due to a dislocated right shoulder on Jan. 27.
Only three NBA players averaged that stat line or better prior to Randle’s injury, and all three are NBA Most Valuable Player winners: Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, and three-time MVP and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. And only one other player finished the entire season with that stat line: Dallas’ Luka Doncic, a likely future MVP and Naismith Hall of Famer.
Randle also averaged 25 points, 10 rebounds and four assists the season prior. Only Embiid and Antetokounmpo finished the 2022-23 season with that stat line or better.
The Knicks also went 12-2 in games both Randle and Anunoby appeared in after the trade with the Raptors before both left the rotation after the Jan. 27 matchup against the Heat.
Without Randle, the Knicks finished with 50 wins and the East’s No. 2 seed, then defeated Embiid’s 76ers in the first round before running out of healthy bodies in a Game 7 loss to the Indiana Pacers in the second round.
If Randle was healthy, there is a strong case to be made the Knicks would have made the conference finals for the first time since 2000.
WILL A MAX RANDLE EXTENSION PUT THE KNICKS OVER THE SECOND APRON LATER?
The Knicks currently have nine players with guaranteed salaries totaling $153.2 million for the 2025-26 NBA season, the first season of Randle’s potential new extension: Anunoby, Brunson, Bridges, Hart, Robinson, DiVincenzo, McBride and the rookies, Pacome Dadiet and Tyler Kolek.
If the Knicks and Randle were to agree to his maximum extension this summer, and if his extension followed a traditional, ascending pay schedule with 8% annual raises, the All-Star forward would be scheduled to earn $40.5 million in the first year of his extension. That would bring the Knicks’ payroll to $193.7 million for the 2025-26 season with 10 players on the roster. The second apron, like the salary cap, is projected to increase 10% with the new media deal to $207.8 million.
That means the Knicks would have just under $14 million in room beneath the second apron to build out the remainder of the roster before facing stringent roster-building limitations imposed on teams who encroach the second apron threshold.
It’s doable, but the Knicks would be missing out on the cream of the crop of free agents and forced to double-down on its current core.
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