Julius Randle signs four-year, $117m contract extension with New York Knicks

The New York Knicks continued their busy offseason on Thursday by making sure their resident All-Star stays put.

Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Knicks and Randle have agreed to a four-year, $117m extension that will see his current deal elevated to five years and $140m in total.

Last season was a banner one for Randle on several fronts. He was a first-time All-Star, averaged career highs in points (24.1), rebounds (10.2), assists (6.0) while shooting 45.6% overall and a career-best 41.1% on three-pointers.

Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Russell Westbrook and Nikola Jokic (who also did it this season) are the only other players to have a 24-10-6 season.

Randle emerged as an All-Star and was the runaway winner of the Most Improved Player award. Randle received 98 first-place votes from a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. He earned 493 points in the voting to finish well ahead of Detroit's Jerami Grant, who earned the other two first-place votes and had 140 points. Michael Porter Jr. of Denver was third with 138 points.

The rest of the Knicks quickly took to coach Tom Thibodeau's defensive schemes and overachieved their way to a 41-31 record and the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. However, the Knicks suffered a disappointing first-round loss to the Atlanta Hawks and Randle had a rough series. After his standout season, Randle's averages were solid (18.0 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 4.0 apg), but his shooting woes were what did he and the Knicks in (29.8% overall, 33.3% on 3-pointers).

The extension for Randle comes a day after reports surfaced that the Knicks are expected to sign former All-Star guard Kemba Walker once he clears waivers.

Former All-Star guard Kemba Walker is reportedly parting ways with the Thunder before ever playing a game for them. Per Wojnarowski and The Athletic's Shams Charania, Walker is finalising a buyout from Oklahoma City and will be signed by his hometown New York Knicks.

Walker, 31, was guaranteed more than $73m over the next two seasons. But after helping the Celtics reach the Eastern Conference finals in the NBA bubble last season the four-time All-Star was limited by knee injuries to 43 games in 2021; he missed the last two games of the first-round playoff loss to the Brooklyn Nets.

He was acquired by the Thunder in mid-June in a trade that brought Al Horford back to the Celtics.

Aside from that, the Knicks also reached reported deals with several of their own key free agents in Derrick Rose, Nerlens Noel, Taj Gibson, Reggie Bullock and Alec Burks.