The final stretch of Julius Randle’s Knicks tenure, which ended last Oct. 2 with a stunning blockbuster trade to the Timberwolves, found the star forward in a vulnerable situation.
“At the end of that time, I was kind of at my darkest moment,” Randle told The Athletic. “Just miserable, like in a way where I just was not having fun going to work every single day.”
Randle revealed that his five-season stint with the Knicks took a turn for the worse when he suffered a season-ending dislocated right shoulder against the Heat in January 2024.
He had seen the Knicks evolve from basement dwellers upon his signing in 2019 to true contenders, and that 2023-24 team seemed to be taking off right when he went down.
Randle felt “increasingly isolated” while he watched the team enter the title picture without him, with the team reaching the Eastern Conference semifinals, and he turned to marijuana to help.
The Athletic noted that Randle withdrew from those closest to him, while “depression, anger and anxiety started to suffocate him.”
Randle reportedly would come home after rehab and just go to a private room, avoiding his family.
“I would just be in there watching TV in a dark room,” Randle told the outlet. “I didn’t even want to show my face. I kind of just wanted to be left alone and, like, in hiding. Just very frustrated and angry and all those different emotions. It just wasn’t a good place to be in.”
His wife, Kendra, noticed the change in her husband.
“As a wife, I could just see it weighing on him and he would come home and just not be present,” she told the publication.
Kendra’s concerns grew to the point that she set up a meeting with Julius and psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen, who reportedly helped him quit marijuana and handle stress and depression.
“I think one of the most important decisions in life is who you choose as a partner,” Julius told the publication. “My wife, she’s seen the best of me, she’s seen the worst of me. So she can be like, ‘That’s not who you are.’”
Randle had an idea that he was on his last legs with the Knicks, with his contract set to expire after the 2024-25 season, but he believed he would at least be on the team until the February trade deadline.
Right before camp, though, the Knicks traded him and Donte DiVincenzo to land Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota.
Despite the bad ending, Randle appreciated his time with the Knicks.
He averaged 22.6 points and 9.9 rebounds per game across his five seasons with the franchise.
“New York was an amazing time. It was a great place. I loved it,” Randle told the outlet. “I had a lot of great moments there and great experiences and met a lot of great people and played a lot of great games. You get to play in the Garden, you know? Have all those experiences. But it also comes with a lot, too, man. It comes with a lot of different things. And it’s a lot to navigate.”
Randle quickly embraced his new environment in Minnesota, and averaged 18.7 points and 7.1 rebounds while the Timberwolves advanced to the Western Conference finals for the second straight year.
Minnesota extended the partnership by re-signing him to a three-year, $100 million deal earlier this offseason.
“Now it just feels very settled,” Randle told the outlet.
“I would say even this summer and leading up to the season is probably the happiest I’ve been in a really long time as far as just career, family, everything.”
Kendra is appreciative of how the trade has helped her husband.
“I did notice how much it affected him,” Kendra told The Athletic of Julius’ last Knicks days.
“So I was happy to see him get to a place where he could breathe and have fun playing again because I feel like it kind of took his joy a little bit, all of that chaos there.”