The New Yor Knicks host the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night, and for Julius Randle, this matchup presents an opportunity to rekindle some old flames with his former team. By his own admission, the first-time All-Star has unsurprisingly circled this date on his calendar.
When asked if he enters the game against the Lakers with a bit of added motivation, Randle answered plainly:
“Always,” he stated, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
The Lakers selected Randle seventh overall during the 2014 NBA Draft. He signed with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2018 and this was where Randle first made a name for himself in the league. The 6-foot-8 power forward then went to New York the following year, and this season, he finally earned a well-deserved call-up to the All-Star squad.
Randle admitted that there is a bit of that revenge narrative playing in his head whenever he faces the Lakers. This is not surprising considering how LA pretty much undervalued him during his time in Hollywood.
Randle then spoke about his journey as he now serves as the star of one of the biggest sports franchises in the world in the Knicks:
“I definitely feel like I proved to myself that I got better,” Randle said. “That’s really what’s encouraging through the whole process, you work extremely hard and prove to yourself that you can get better. You want to make the changes throughout the summer and the season to get better and then you make the changes. That’s more motivation than anything to keep going, like how far can I take this thing?”
The Knicks splashed the cash on Julius Randle in 2019 when they brought him on on a three-year, $62.1 million deal. He's proven to be worth every penny of that contract, and with his current deal set to expire at the end of next season, Randle could be in line for another big-money deal — be it in New York or elsewhere.
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