Julius Randle named as Most Improved Player

The NBA announced earlier today that Julius Randle as its 2020-21 Kia NBA Most Improved Player.

Randle becomes the first member of the New York Knicks to win the award, which is presented to honor an up-and-coming player who made a dramatic improvement from the previous season to the current one. Julius signed with the Knicks on July 9, 2019 after spending his first four seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers and a season with the New Orleans Pelicans.

He earned a total of 493 points from a global panel of a hundred members of the media, most of which came from securing 98 first place votes. The remaining two first-place votes went to Jerami Grant of the Detroit Pistons, who finished in second place with 140 points. Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter, Jr. took third place with 138 points.

Players receive five points for a first-place vote, with three points for a second-place vote and a point for third place.

Coming into the season, Randle had been averaging 16.1 points, nine rebounds, and 2.8 assists. He then raised it to 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and six assists in 71 games at league-high 37.6 minutes for the Knicks this season, one that got him named to his first-ever NBA All-Star selection as a reserve. He ranked in the top twenty in the league this season on points, rebounds, and assists, setting career-highs in average for points and assists and matching it on rebounds. In addition, his 41 double-doubles ranked eighth in the league, while his six triple-doubles are tied for seventh.

In the process, Julius becomes the sixth player in NBA history to average 24-10-6 in a season, following Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Nikola Jokić (who also did it this season), Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook.

Julius also showed improved marksmanship from long distance, converting a career-high 160 three-pointers this season at 40.1 percent, having made only 168 in his previous five seasons combined at 29.5 percent. It also extended to his foul shooting, nailing a career-best 81.1 percent there.

During the campaign, Randle was named as the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for Week 17, and was April's Kia NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month.

As a result, New York rode his improvement to a 41-31 record, securing the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference and allowing the Knicks to earn their spot in the postseason for the first time since the 2012-13 season.

Below is the voting results for the award, which was first given out during the 1985-86 season.