Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson are in line to finish as all-time great Knicks
In the heat of an 82-game NBA season, jam-packed with an In-Season Tournament and daily rumor mill, it can be easy to become laser-focused on the present and short-term future. Players take it a game at a time, and fans rewrite their legacies even quicker than that.
Take Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle, the two-headed monster leading the Knicks to a 17-14, start, a 46-win pace. The masses are clamoring to get Brunson his first All-Star bid after massive performances against the league’s elite, while they’re waiting for the playoffs to validate the production from Randle thus far.
Lost in those constantly shifting narratives is the bigger picture, especially regarding those two talents. Whenever and however this era comes to an end, Brunson and Randle are going to be looked back on as all-time Knicks.
Randle is currently in his fifth season in the blue and orange, tied for the second-longest-tenured Knick on the roster behind Mitchell Robinson. If he plays through next season, he’ll join the center as the longest-tenured Knicks in over a decade of incompetence.
Following Friday's loss to Orlando, Randle's averages in those five years: 22.4 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 4.6 assists on 45 percent shooting from the field, suiting up for 95 percent of his 332 regular season games. He’s the only Knick with a single 20-8-5 season and has more or less averaged that line for five years.
Brunson’s only been here a season and change, putting up 25.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists on 49 percent shooting from the field and 43 percent from deep. He’s arguably been the best Knicks point guard in generations, putting up a heroic effort in his first postseason trip, with 70 points over back-to-back elimination games in last year’s second-round loss to the eventual Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat.
Together, the two have already left their marks on the Knicks record books, and delivered the winningest season in a decade, matching Carmelo Anthony’s longest playoff run as a Knick. Even with “the big trade” looming, it’s hard to see either one departing in the near future, setting the stage for them to leave a lasting legacy in this storied franchise’s history.
Take Randle’s accomplishments thus far, such as recently passing the 7000 career point mark as a Knick. Should he play through next season, he’ll likely crack the top ten list by passing Bill Bradley, and one more assures he leapfrogs into fifth all-time.
He’s already top five in three-pointers made, with the second-highest single-season total. He can pass Anthony to move into third place next season, and even work his way to the top spot with a couple more.
In defensive rebounds, Randle is fifth in Knicks history, headed for fourth come season end and eventually Kurt Thomas’s third-place spot next season. He’ll likely win his third All-NBA Team honor this year, which would put him ahead of Anthony and Bernard King, tying him with Richie Guerin at third highest.
Randle’s 57 points are tied for the third-highest in a single game for the Knicks, with his 26-point third quarter a franchise record. He’s also fourth in triple-doubles for the Knicks with seven, and he’s the first to record multiple in a season since Mark Jackson in 1989.
Despite only being a Knick for a season and a quarter, Brunson’s already breaking records, not just for the franchise but the league at large. His current averages would be ninth all-time in single-season points per game, and fourth in three-point percentage.
The last Knick to average 25 points and five assists in a season was Guerin in 1961-62, and Brunson’s the first in NBA history to do it at his three-point clip this far into the season. He also put up a historic Christmas Day game, with his 38 points over the Bucks finishing as the third-best total in the franchise.
Nothing tops his 50 points against the Suns earlier in the year, in which he went 9-for-9 from deep, becoming the first player ever to do that in a game. He became the first to record 30 points in a half without missing a single shot, and the ninth Knick to ever score 50.
Of course, all the facts and figures in the world couldn’t stack up to what a championship or even some modern-day deep playoff success would mean to the Knicks fanbase. The first chip since 1973 would turn Randle and Brunson into messianic figures, forever instilled in the city’s sports history as idols.
Still, falling short of that is no shame either, given its difficulty these past decades. And many legends like Anthony and King are memorialized in the zeitgeist despite their lack of jewelry.
Barring total disaster or a monster shake-up, that’s where Randle and Brunson are headed. So while the 1A conversations and off nights continue to dominate the daily conversation, it’s important to take a beat and acknowledge we’re watching two of the most unique talents in franchise history carry their squad to the most success we’ve seen this millennium.
