Out With The Old, In With The Old?

With the recent culmination of the playoffs coming to end, the Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics to face the Denver Nuggets in the finals. This sparked conversation regarding All-Star wing Jaylen Brown as this past year he has been in the famous rumor realm with the New York Knicks. Many people have now begun to show their unwillingness to want Brown on their team after his terrible playoff performance, specifically the Heat series. This is important to bring up because of the similarity that Knicks fans have shown Julius Randle after his poor playoff performance. However, looking at both against the Heat is more interesting than you'd think.

Jaylen Brown vs. Miami

• 19 PPG, 6.1 REB, 3.4 AST, 25 TOV

• 67% FT, 16% 3P, 42% FG

Julius Randle vs. Miami

• 18.8 PPG, 10.2 REB, 4.2 AST, 20 TOV

• 71% FT, 28% 3P, 41% FG

Though this might not be a crazy comparison to look far into, it still can represent the playoff performances of the two players. Both being secondary star options to the star players on their teams respectively. It also does not represent their seasons as a whole as both were All-Stars and had fantastic regular seasons. It just happens to be that both players are in trade rumors after letting their teams down with poor performances. This can put more into perspective when it comes to Knicks fans wanting a player, and wanting to get rid of a player of this caliber. Along with that, potentially giving more hope to Randle as a player for the team after all.

As of June 3rd, Randle also underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair his ankle that he was having problems with at the end of the season. This could have potentially altered his play in the playoffs ever so slightly. Nonetheless, he is scheduled to be prepared for the start of training camp as it looks he will remain on the team for now. The questions of course will continue to swirl throughout the summer with Randle, so it will be interesting to see how the team will handle him for the foreseeable future.

Written by Anthony Ellis, 2023