Julius Randle has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols

New York Knicks forward Julius Randle has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, and will miss at least one game.

Randle has started every game of the 2021-22 season for the Knicks. In fact, he only missed one game of last season.

There has been a great deal of speculation about Randle, who played two rough games on the Knicks’ recent back-to-back. Wednesday’s win was especially rough, as he scored only five points and didn’t play the entire fourth quarter as New York’s bench stormed back to victory. Randle’s play has been uneven at best this season, a far cry from his breakout 2020-21 campaign, which saw him named to the all-NBA second team.

While we don’t know how many games Randle miss, I think we can assume that Obi Toppin will take his place in the starting lineup. Pretty much every Knicks fan on the planet has been clamoring for Toppin, who is having himself a breakout sophomore campaign, to get more minutes. Well, here is his chance. The Knicks don’t really have a true power forward behind Obi. Taj Gibson is a center at this point, and he’s the only backup C they have. Kevin Knox is...Kevin Knox. Two-way player Luka Samanic is out with a foot injury. Thibs seemed reluctant to play Obi big minutes; now he doesn’t really have a choice.