Julius Randle’s dream was not just to reach the NBA. It was becoming an NBA All-Star.
The dream came true when Randle was appointed to the Eastern Conference All-Star team as a reserve to culminate his career year in his second season with the Knicks.
Randle will become the first Knicks player to participate in an All-Star Game since Carmelo Anthony in 2017. This year’s All-Star Game is scheduled for March 7 in Atlanta.
Eastern reserves among frontline players include Jayson Tatum and Nikola Vucevic. Randle defeated Domantas Sabonis of Indiana, Bam Adebayo of Miami and Tobias Harris of Philly.
Kristaps Porzingis was nominated for the All-Star team in 2018, but never made it to the contest. Shortly after being nominated, he tore his ACL and never played for the Knicks again.
“It would mean a lot,” Randle said on Tuesday after the Knicks’ morning shootaround, hours before the revelation. “My goal was never just to play in the NBA. I always thought I would get there. I just wanted to be the best player I could be and reach my potential. And I try to strive every day to do that. It would definitely be a milestone ”.
League coaches voted for Randle and the Knicks striker sensed that he earned the respect of all the pairs he faced this season on the way to career numbers
Randle has played in all 31 games so far this season, recording the best of his career on points (23.2), rebounds (11.0), assists (5.5) and minutes (36.8). He entered the season after a tedious first year as commercial bait, but now he is anything but. The Post found that Randle is considered a part of the future and the Knicks have no desire to move him with their team option reaching $ 20 million. Randle is a client of the Creative Artists Agency – which Knicks President Leon Rose directed.
“I think I can achieve this validation of how [opposing coaches] play with me every night, ”said Randle. “With the pairs. How they try the game plan. All that kind of thing. Obviously, the All-Star’s nod would be incredible. Each player strives to do this. “
Randle said that if he succeeded, the determination would have been made on his “impact on victory”. With an underrated squad, the Knicks entered Tuesday’s game against the Warriors 15-16. In fact, they would be much worse without their night dominance which included their improvement of the 3-point line and their decision making and leadership. Randle did not make it to the playoffs in his first six seasons, but that could also change.
“Just as you grow as a player throughout your career, you learn how to do the little things to help the team win,” said Randle. “Trainer [Tom Thibodeau] has done a great job training me, putting me in those positions. And we are winning, having those numbers. But I think a lot of people maybe, before the year, could have told us as a team, saying that we wouldn’t be as good as a team. We’re turning a lot of heads game by game, so it probably has something to do with it too. “