New York Knicks forward Julius Randle is having the best season of his career, and his college coach John Calipari paid compliments in an unusual way to the ex-Kentucky Wildcat on Tuesday.
“He’s playing confident and comfortable with who he is as a player,’’ Calipari said. “He’s not LeBron James. But he doesn’t need to be. He’s Julius Randle, and how many of those are in the league? A handful. I watch it and I’m proud,” per Marc Berman of the New York Post.
Usually, NBA players want to be LeBron James, so Coach Cal’s comment is a bit odd, but it’s certainly meant as a compliment to Randle, who went seventh overall to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2014 draft.
Randle signed a three-year deal with $63-million in the summer of 2019 and if he keeps this up he could potentially get max money when he enters free agency again.
For Calipari, the rise of Randle isn’t surprising, and it shouldn’t be. His career got off to a shaky start after he got injured on the first night of the 2014 season with a season-ending injury, but he’s responded and looks like an All-Star by all means.
Randle’s emergence this year has been terrific and some teams are going to throw big money at him when he enters free agency. He is averaging a double-double with career-highs in points (22.4), rebounds (11.1), and assists (6.0) as the Knicks are in the middle of the Eastern Conference in their first season under head coach Tom Thibodeau.
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