Out of a difficult road trip, an avoidable injury to RJ Barrett and Leon Rose’s silent trade deadline emerged one important and positive development for the Knicks:
The reinvigoration of Julius Randle.
It was only five games that ended with Saturday afternoon’s fourth-quarter meltdown against the Trail Blazers in Portland, but context matters. Randle had been spiraling into uncontrollable disaster before the West Coast swing, leaving many to wonder whether the Knicks might dump his contract with the max extension kicking in next season.
