At least Julius Randle won’t be getting fined for his latest press conference.
Speaking to media for the first time Tuesday since revealing that his message with his thumbs-down to the Garden crowd on Thursday night was to “shut the f–k up,” the Knicks forward was not at all interested in talking about the ensuing reaction.
“I’ve already addressed it,” Randle said repeatedly to multiple questions about the aftermath of his thumbs-down and postgame comments.
Thursday’s “shut the f–k up” line came a day after Randle insisted he didn’t “give a s–t” about outside criticism. The 1-2 punch landed him a $25,000 fine by the NBA for “egregious use of profane language,” about which Randle said his reaction was “none.”
Randle declined to answer questions about whether he hoped to mend his relationship with fans, whether management had spoken to him about the situation, or whether he was surprised by the backlash, continually repeating that he had already addressed it in an Instagram post on Friday.
“… I should have handled things [Thursday] night differently and expressed myself with more professionalism and more appropriate language in the heat of the moment,” Randle wrote as part of a longer post. “My comment was an example of how sometimes you say things you regret to people you love, even if it came from a place of passion and deep love.”
Randle was asked on Tuesday what led to him writing the message on Instagram.
“Just felt like I needed to address certain stuff that was said, whatever it was,” Randle said.
Randle’s first chance to get the Garden crowd back on his side Monday night did not go successfully, as he heard more boos while scoring just two points in the Knicks’ win over the Spurs.