Julius Randle will be making his second All-Star Game appearance of his career, both with the Knicks, when he travels to Salt Lake City, Utah this weekend to take part in the festivities.
Selected as a reserve, Randle will join the league’s best on the court on Sunday, although, who he’ll be playing with is still a mystery.
Gone are the days of the Eastern Conference playing the Western Conference, as the top vote-getter in each conference is named a team captain who then drafts their team from the pool of All-Stars.
Before, the two team captains, in this case LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, drafted their teams days prior to the All-Star Game. However, this year the NBA All-Star Draft will take place right before the game.
So, although Randle doesn’t know whose team he’s on, let alone who he's playing with just yet, he does have his eyes set on a few people.
“I’ve never been able to play with Bron, PG. [I’d] start with those two,” Randle said when asked who he’d like to play with. “I got a relationship with P[aul George] and I’ve never played with LeBron so it’d be fun to do before he gets his old ass outta here.”
While it’s true Randle and the 38-year-old James have never played with each other, they had a chance to during the 2018-2019 season when James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, the same team that drafted Randle No. 7 overall in 2014.
However, instead of re-signing Randle during that offseason, the Lakers chose to move on and the Kentucky product signed with the New Orleans Pelicans where he played for one season before joining the Knicks.
Randle is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career, averaging a double-double in 59 games with career highs in points (24.7) and rebounds (10.8).
The NBA All-Star Game is on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m.