Knicks Nearly Landed Massive LeBron James Deal

An attempt to sing a royal tune had the New York Knicks sending a future NBA All-Star to the Music City.

Zach Randolph recalled his brief time with the Knicks in the latest episode of “Podcast P,” the web series hosted by current Los Angeles Clipper Paul George. Randolph played parts of two seasons with the Knicks, including 69 games of the 2007-08 campaign, before embarking on the most memorable portions of his NBA career, an eight-year stint with the Memphis Grizzlies that produced two All-Star invites.

Randolph’s brief metropolitan heyday came during one of the darker points on the Knick timeline, as the team endured a 23-win campaign despite boasting several decent talents like Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, David Lee, and Nate Robinson. That didn’t stop the team from dreaming the Lebron James dream, one that saw the Knicks purge a good bit of the star power they had in anticipation of making a run for his services upon his first free agency departure from Cleveland in the ensuing summer.

“We had a lot of talent on that team,” Randolph, who averaged 18 points and 10.6 rebounds during his season-plus in New York, recalled. “They thought LeBron was coming to New York, and Bron was never coming to New York, and they done traded their whole team. They got rid of me, they got rid of (Crawford), they got rid of everybody.”

Randolph, Crawford, and Malik Rose were all traded from the Knicks during the ensuing season in the lead-up to James’ “Decision.” Marbury was also waived as the Knicks dragged their way to a 32-win showing under first-year head coach Mike D’Antoni. The James gambit, of course, failed to produce anything, as he infamously “took (his) talents to South Beach” to join the Miami Heat during the summer of 2009.

What made the purge so perplexing, Randolph explained, was the fact that the Knicks had gotten off to a respectable start at the onset of the D’Antoni era. New York won six of its first nine to open the 2008-09 season but wound up sending both Randolph and Crawford west in an attempt to build a James budget.

Randolph was dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers along with Mardy Collins in exchange for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas. He would then sign with the Grizzlies and established himself as one of the most prolific names in franchise history.

Even with what he accomplished in Memphis, however, Randolph can’t help but wonder what might’ve been.

“That year we came back and I got traded … we were balling.”

The Knicks may have one last chance to don James in blue-and-orange before all’s said and done: James may opt out of the final year of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers and the surging Knicks may well be willing to fund his potential retirement tour.

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