Knicks fans at MSG give Julius Randle the warm reception he deserves

Julius Randle of the Minnesota Timberwolves controls the ball during the first quarter against OG Anunoby of the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
No, it couldn’t have been easy.
It couldn’t have been easy for Julius Randle to walk into the small, spartan visiting locker room at Madison Square Garden on Friday. It couldn’t have been easy for him to walk past the security guards who used to be his security guards, walk down the tunnel that used to be his tunnel and walk onto the floor that used to be his floor.
It couldn’t have been easy for Randle to return to the arena that less than four months ago he thought would be his forever home. Yet — other than getting a little lost on the way to the visitors’ showers after the game — the Minnesota forward said he felt pretty good about everything that transpired Friday in his first game back at the Garden since the Knicks traded him to Minnesota in October.
Randle looked fairly stoic when Knicks fans cheered him during the pregame introductions. Later, back in the locker room after the Timberwolves’ 116-99 victory, he said he was touched by the reception.
“It was good,” Randle said. “This is a place that will always be home to me and my family. I enjoyed every second I played here.”
Though he no longer is a part of this Knicks team after being traded along with Donte DiVincenzo to the Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns in the preseason, his legacy is undeniable. And for that alone, he deserved to be loudly cheered.
Randle believed in the Knicks and their potential when almost no one else in the NBA did. When Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard and almost every other free agent took a hard pass on the Knicks, Randle risked coming to a franchise that had just finished a 17-65 season and had gone six straight years without making the playoffs.
A year later, after Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau took over the team, he became the foundational brick that the team was built upon. In his five years here, the Knicks made it to the playoffs three times. Randle averaged 22.6 points, 9.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists and earned three All-Star selections as a Knick.
“It was just what we were able to build,” Randle said. “I came here when it wasn’t necessarily great. To build year after year to what it is now . . . I like to feel I played a part in it. I tried to give my best every single night I came out here.”
The Knicks were one of the most exciting teams in the league last season as they got within one victory of the Eastern Conference finals, and DiVincenzo and Randle were blindsided when the Knicks sent them to Minnesota for Towns on Oct. 2.
It would have been absurd to call Friday night’s game a measuring stick of how the teams did in the trade. For one, DiVincenzo (sprained toe) and Towns (sprained right thumb) sat out Friday night. And for two, it’s already pretty clear that the Knicks got the better of the deal.
The Timberwolves went to the Western Conference finals last spring after a 56-win season and a playoff run that included a second-round victory over the then-defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets.
The Timberwolves needed to deal Towns to avoid a huge luxury tax bill and the Knicks badly needed a center. Mitchell Robinson was (and still is) injured and Isaiah Hartenstein signed with Oklahoma City in free agency.
Towns, who had been playing out of position in Minnesota to accommodate Rudy Gobert, has helped take the Knicks to the next level.
In 38 games, he is averaging 25.4 points and a career-high 13.9 rebounds. He also is shooting 55.0% from the field and 44.9% from three-point range.
The Knicks are in third place in the Eastern Conference with a 27-16 record. The Timberwolves have taken a step back and are 22-19. Randle had been averaging 19.5 points and 7.1 rebounds but had only eight points and shot 2-for-6 on Friday.
Randle said all that mattered to him was that the Timberwolves got the win.
“They got us pretty bad last time in Minnesota,” Randle said of the Knicks’ 133-107 victory in December, a game in which he scored 24 points. “I thought it was right that we came back here and got a win.”
Got a win in the building that used to be his.