NEW YORK — Don’t expect clarity from the Knicks on Julius Randle.
In the wake of a WFAN report that Randle demanded a trade this week, Tom Thibodeau evaded a question about Randle’s commitment to the team.
“Yeah, as a coach, you coach the players that you have,” Thibodeau said when asked, as far as he knows, if Randle wants to be with the Knicks. “And you love them all. And I do. If you play for me, I love you. It’s really that simple. The challenge for us is to bring the best out of each other.”
It amounted to a non-answer following Randle’s latest display of frustration/anger Monday, when he tossed the ball and walked away from his celebrating teammates after a victory over the Bulls.
Asked directly about the report of Randle demanding a trade after Monday’s game, Thibodeau said, “Are you serious? Are you serious? C’mon. You know I’m not going to respond to something like that anyway. Let’s be real.”
It seems far-fetched for Randle to demand a trade immediately following a game, but Randle’s clearly frustrated. He has warred with the fanbase and targeted referees all season, picking up a career-high 12 technicals.
It’s a much different environment than last season, when Randle was the darling of New York while leading the Knicks to their first playoff appearance since 2013.
“Look, every year is different. You’re faced with new and different challenges,” Thibodeau said. “There are a lot of things — this year didn’t go like last year did. Hopefully we can finish up like we did last year. Things change all the time. They can change from going real good to bad quickly and they can go from being not as good as you would like to great real quick, also.
“Just keep going. I think goes with the turf. You’re going to get a lot of credit. You’re going to get a lot of blame. That’s the way it works here. Stay focused, come in the next day and just keep working.”
Randle didn’t address the media after Sunday’s game. He can’t be traded until after the season, but his four-year max extension, which kicks in next season, makes any potential deal complicated. Thibodeau again danced around the subject of his angry All-Star but praised the fanbase that has been hard on Randle this season.
“This is the best place in the league to play and I’ve been just about every place,” Thibodeau said. “So I’m speaking from experience. This place is special. The fans are passionate, we know what basketball means to this city. We’ve got to give them something to be proud of. We’ve got to come out, we’ve gotta play hard, we’ve gotta play for each other, we’ve gotta play smart.
And if we do that, sometimes — you could lose a game and play well,” the coach continued. “You’ve got to remember; the other team’s pretty good too. Last year was different, was a different year. We never really got hit with COVID last year, we got hit with COVID this year. So there’s a lot of things that go into it. But you’ve got to keep battling with it every day. And that’s where it lies.”
