In the West, the Lakers have been a laughing stock as their struggles continue over halfway through the season.
In the East, it's the Knicks who are enduring some seriously troubling times. After last season's inspiring run, many fans had hope that things were finally starting to turn around for the dysfunctional franchise.
Sadly, the team has only regressed this season and now finds itself in familiar territory as the laughing stock of the league.
Following Thursday's 102-91 loss to the Pelicans, which saw the Knicks getting blown off their home floor in the third quarter, NBA fans took to Twitter to rain down judgment on the team. Some of it came in the form of harsh criticism while others came in the form of jokes and memes.
It was a busy night, to be sure.
One of the biggest problems for New York has been the play of Julius Randle. He made the All-Star team in 2021, but his performance over the past few months has people thinking it was all a fluke.
With a scoring average of 19.1 points per game on just 41% shooting, there is no denying that he has been playing poorly.
To make matters worse, he let it all get to his head by lashing out against Knicks fans for expressing their displeasure with the team. He did issue an apology, but Randle's behavior rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way.
“I never understand why players think you are supposed to be cheered when you’re playing bad,” said Charles Barkley, via R.P Salao of Clutch Points. “No, you’re gonna get booed when you’re playing bad and you’re gonna get cheered when you win. … Are they supposed to cheer when you’re playing bad? As a player, this is the way this thing works. We ain’t doctors. We ain’t lawyers. If you play good, people cheer you. If you play bad, people boo you. That’s the deal you make with fans.”
The loss to New Orleans marked their third straight defeat at home, which is a rather concerning trend at this point in the season.
With tensions running high throughout the organization, and its fanbase, it seems only a matter of time before management is forced to respond with some kind of big trade.
Fortunately, the deadline is still weeks away, so the Knicks have plenty of time to think about what they want to do. Whatever the case, it's clear that somebody needs to stop the bleeding, or the situation could go from unstable to completely out of control.
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