Julius Randle should know shortly before Tuesday’s fan-attended game at the Garden if he will play an extra game among the NBA elite this season.
The league will announce its All-Star reserves on TNT on Tuesday at 7pm, and Randle remains under consideration – but is not a slot – to be one of seven players added from the Eastern Conference.
It would be the first All-Star designation in his career for Randle, who is in his second season of a $ 62.1 million three-year deal with the Knicks.
The 26-year-old power forward – and player Tom Thibodeau described Sunday as Knicks’ “engine” – is certainly a worthy candidate.
Randle has set career records in points (23.2), rebounds (11.0), assists (5.5) and minutes (36.8) through the Knicks 15-16, Tuesday’s home game against Golden State begins . He also shoots 41.0 percent from a 3-point range, a significant improvement from the 29.5 percent he posted at long range in his first six NBA seasons.
The only other players to average 23-11-5 this season are Giannis Antetokounmpo from Milwaukee and Nikola Jokic from Denver.
Those impressive numbers – and the massive improvement of the Knicks – may still not be enough to give Randle a spot in the East when voting by the conference’s head coaches.
James Harden of The Nets and Jaylen Brown of Boston are sure to be added to the backcourt, with Ben Simmons also likely to be the second All-Star for Philadelphia to lead the conference. Celtics forward Jayson Tatum also plans to take down one of the reserve front court spots.
That leaves just three openings in the 12-man squad, with Randle likely to compete 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 up front, as well as Guard. Zach LaVine from Chicago, Trae Young from Atlanta and Jimmy Butler from Miami.
If not initially chosen, Randle can still be added as a substitute if a selected player withdraws due to injury or COVID-19 issues.
The East starting unit consists of Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid in the frontcourt, with guards Kyrie Irving and Bradley Beal. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players as reserves.
The Knicks announced on Monday that limited tickets for the March 4 home game against Detroit were available for public sale. Tickets were open to season ticket holders first, followed by the general public, starting at $ 50, on nyknicks.com.