Celtics Legends Argue Over Knicks Running It Back with Eastern Conference Rivals’ Growing Strength

The New York Knicks’ season ended after a hard-fought battle against the Indiana Pacers in the Conference Semifinals. They were dubbed as the understaffed squad for weeks before their active roster crumbled in Game 7. However, now that it is time to plan for the 2024-25 season, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce got into an argument about whether the NY franchise needs to add more pieces to their roster.

On a recent episode of Ticket & The Truth podcast, the Celtics legends discussed what the Knicks should do to come back stronger next season.

The franchise suffered throughout the last leg of the season because of their players being injured. The biggest setback for the Knicks was Julius Randle being sidelined due to his shoulder injury. OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson also missed playoff games due to injury. So by the time the next season kicks off, several of the team’s key pieces will be back in shape.

According to KG, the Knicks shouldn’t look outside their roster because the team is perfectly constructed as it is now. Garnett didn’t believe that New York needs any missing pieces.

He said, “I would not touch the Knicks. I would take the Knicks’ current roster, over the summer, I’m going into development… load up for October 1st-October 2nd and let’s…run this.”

However, The Truth had a different take on it. Pierce feels like when Randle and Bojan Bogdanovic come back, they might disrupt the Knicks’ current flow.

He said, “I just feel like they came together with this group that was out there, so, it might be a different dynamic when you add [Randle and Bogdanovic].”

Despite the potential issues, Pierce said that the Knicks will need a “perimeter scoring threat” to be prepared for the challenges that the 76ers or the Bucks will throw at them next season. Because he believes that these conference rivals will come prepared for revenge next year.

Shams Charania reported on a possible Julius Randle trade

While he recovers from his shoulder surgery, Randle has a possible contract extension coming up with the NY franchise. On August 3rd, he will become eligible for a contract extension, worth up to four years and $181.5 million. However, on the recent episode of Run It Back, Shams Charania talked about the Knicks potentially trading him.

"Julius Randle, he's got a player option in 2025…Teams are monitoring this situation for sure, because how [the Knicks] handle that extension situation, if that is a conversation, what transpires, I think that will be interesting."@ShamsCharania on the #Knicks offseason… pic.twitter.com/9sN71RcNHF

— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) May 20, 2024

Keeping Randle’s player option in 2025 in mind, he said, “Teams are monitoring this situation for sure, because how [the Knicks] handle that extension situation. If that is a conversation, what transpires, I think that will be interesting.”

The possibility of Randle being traded will result in only one scenario, which is if the Knicks try to bring in a star to replace him.