Julius Randle is expected to find out just before Tuesday’s Garden game if he will play an extra game this season among the NBA elite.
The league will announce its All-Star reservations on Tuesday at 7 pm on TNT, and Randle remains under consideration – but is not guaranteed – to be one of the seven players added to the Eastern Conference.
This would mark the first All-Star designation in Randle’s career, which is in its second season of a $ 62.1 million contract with the Knicks for three years.
The 26-year-old forward – and player Tom Thibodeau described Sunday as the Knicks’ “engine” – is certainly a worthy candidate.
Randle recorded the best of his career on points (23.2), rebounds (11.0), assists (5.5) and minutes (36.8) at the start of the Knicks 15-16 for Tuesday’s home game. against the Golden State. He is also pitching 41.0 percent of 3-point reach, a significant improvement from the 29.5 percent he posted long-range in his first six NBA seasons.
The only other players averaging at least 23-11-5 this season are Giannis Antetokounmpo from Milwaukee and Nikola Jokic from Denver.
However, these impressive numbers – and the great improvement of the Knicks – may still not be enough to guarantee Randle a spot in the East in the vote by the conference coaches.
James Harden of the Nets and Jaylen Brown of Boston will certainly be added to the defense, with Ben Simmons also being considered the second All-Star of the conference leader, Philadelphia. Celtics striker Jayson Tatum could also get one of the reserved spaces on the attacking court.
That leaves only three spots on the 12-man team, with Randle probably competing with Domantas Sabonis from Indiana, Khris Middleton from Milwaukee, Bam Adebayo from Miami, Tobias Harris from Philadelphia, Nikola Vucevic from Orlando, Gordon Hayward from Charlotte and Jerami Grant from Detroit at the front, as well as guards Zach LaVine from Chicago, Trae Young from Atlanta and Jimmy Butler from Miami.
If he is not chosen initially, Randle can still be added as a substitute if a selected player withdraws due to an injury or problems with COVID-19.
The starting unit for the East has Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid on the attacking court, with guards Kyrie Irving and Bradley Beal. Coaches could not vote for their own players as reserves.
The Knicks announced on Monday that limited tickets for the March 4 home game against Detroit were made available for sale to the public. Tickets were opened for the first time to season ticket holders, followed by the general public, starting at $ 50, on nyknicks.com.