Julius Randle's dispute with Knicks video coordinator dismissed as 'heat of the moment'
Knicks forward Julius Randle falls into the crowd after shooting during the second half against the Los Angeles Lakers Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, in Los Angeles. Credit: AP/Mark J. Terrill
SALT LAKE CITY — In an odd season, Julius Randle has found himself in viral videos for odd behavior in huddles, on the bench and during interactions with Madison Square Garden fans as many times as he has for his play on the court.
The latest surfaced Monday morning when video from the Knicks’ game against the Lakers in Los Angeles on Saturday night showed Randle being approached during a timeout huddle by video coordinator Scott King. When King attempted to show him something on a laptop computer, Randle slapped at the computer and got into a heated exchange with the 6-10 King — who played for Stony Brook from 2012-15 —before being separated by other assistant coaches and teammate Taj Gibson.
"When you have competitive people, you’re gonna have stuff like that," coach Tom Thibodeau said after the team’s morning shootaround at Vivint Arena in preparation for Monday night’s game against the Jazz. "That’s normal. Every team has it. It’s competitive people, heat of the moment. They’re good. They’ve got a great relationship. Everyone is trying to win. So it’s all part of it."
Randle’s most infamous moment in this frustrating season came on Jan. 6. After days of being booed at Madison Square Garden and vilified on social media, he was cheered by the crowd for a play against Boston and responded by flashing a thumbs-down gesture. After the game, he clarified that he was telling the fans to "shut the [expletive] up."
But this latest incident occurred with an assistant coach trying to point out some aspect of how a game was being played, a new reality for players in all sports.
When Randle was asked what happened, he replied, "Nothing. Stuff like that happens all the time. Honestly, there’s heated exchanges and arguments throughout a game, but it’s all coming from a good place. Everybody wants to win. Everybody’s challenging each other to win. It’s fine. I slapped his laptop today, too. I wasn’t mad, but I slapped it.’’
Said Thibodeau, "Well, that’s the modern NBA. Hey, look, the technology has been great. To be able to look at plays — we see it more in football because there’s a break in play, but when guys come out or timeouts, you always have that interaction. And oftentimes the player wants to see it. It might be how he’s being defended. It might be a situation that occurred — like, where were they? And so it’s very helpful. It’s heat of the moment. It’s normal stuff."
Gibson, the team’s elder statesman, helped separate Randle and King, and Thibodeau pointed out that policing these interactions is part of the game.
"I think that’s the case," he said. "We’re a team, so there’s gonna be — you know, there’s a lot of interactions over the course of the season. There’s heat of the moment. There’s competition. There’s competitive people involved. And then there’s great respect for Julius, the coaches, so it’s normal. You fix it. Immediately, it was taken care of.
"Those things, you just talk and you move on. It’s not a big deal. This happens in every game with every team."
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
