Julius Randle of the New York Knicks looks on against...

Julius Randle of the New York Knicks looks on against the Hornets at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac

Julius Randle’s season likely is over.

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said before Saturday’s game against the Cavaliers that Randle would not make the trip to Orlando for Sunday’s game and probably will sit out the remaining three games after that.

The Knicks announced after practice on Friday that Randle would sit out Saturday because of a quadriceps injury and listed him as “day-to-day.”

“He’s had this nagging thing going on for a while,” Thibodeau said. “We’ve got a week to go. He’s not going to travel [to Orlando]. So now we’re down to three games.

“If he feels great? Maybe there is a possibility. But most likely where we are [in the standings], just let him get healthy and go from there.”

Regarding Randle’s near future, Thibodeau said, “Just knowing who he is, I think he’ll have a great summer.”

After an outstanding 2020-21 season in which he averaged 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists and was named the NBA's most improved player, Randle signed a contract worth $117 million over four seasons.

When he was asked after re-signing about skeptics who wondered if he could duplicate his success in 2021-22, he said, “I think people who would say that really just don’t know [expletive] about me. If you watched my career and you’ve watched me play every year, I’ve gotten better, so that just speaks to my mindset and who I am as a player. So they can have fun with that take."

Randle’s statistics this season were not terrible. He averaged 20.1 points, 9.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists. But his shooting percentages went down from .456 to .411 overall and from .411  to .308 from three-point range. In general, he was not the same player he was in ’20-21 and clashed at times with fans and officials.

He accumulated $130,000 in NBA fines, most recently $40,000 for directing hostile language at a referee.

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