It’s been a frustrating season for Julius Randle, and we’re beginning to see that play out visibly during games.
Randle signed a four-year, $117 million contract extension with the Knicks this past offseason, which came after Randle posted a career best season and helped lead the Knicks to a surprise playoff appearance. But 2021-22 has seen a considerable regression across the board for Randle, and right now, the Knicks wouldn’t even qualify for the play-in games.
But Saturday’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers was Randle’s third highest-scoring effort this season — he had 32 points on 11 of 22 shooting — so he was in no mood to have assistant video coordinator Scott King break out the laptop and coach him through the scouting report.
Julius Randle 😳
(h/t @AhnFireDigital) pic.twitter.com/64DVcHbYHo
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) February 7, 2022
Footage from that 122-115 loss to the Lakers showed Randle and King get into a heated argument on the bench. The exchange started when King tried to show Randle something on the laptop, and an uninterested Randle responded by swatting at the computer. King took exception to Randle’s reaction, and the two went face-to-face before being separated by the staff.
If there’s one video that sums up Randle’s season thus far, it has to be that. There was no reason to swat at a computer when King was just doing his job.