Of late, the Timberwolves have been a fairly successful team. No, they haven’t reached the NBA finals, but they have reached back-to-back conference finals.
Much of the team’s history is littered with subpar teams though. They haven’t had many players in their jersey recorded a triple-double. After Monday, Minnesota now has 15 players who have at least one regular season triple-double in their 37-year history, with Julius Randle now joining the list.
The Timberwolves improved to 4-3 with their 125-109 victory over the winless Nets on Monday. A three-time All-Star, Randle’s play to begin the year has him looking like someone who will be named to the game for a fourth time in a few months. Randle's excellent play continued on Monday.
In 34 minutes of action, Randle finished the outing with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. That performance gave him his 15th career triple-double, but his first one while donning a Timberwolves jersey. It was also Randle’s first double-double of the year.
The other 14 players to have a triple-double for Minnesota
There are now 15 players who can say they have recorded a triple-double as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Seven of those had more than one for Minnesota. The all-time leader in franchise history is also recognized as the best player in franchise history.
That is Kevin Garnett with 16. The others with more than one are Ricky Rubio (five), Kyle Anderson (three), Kevin Love (three), Terrell Brandon (two), Karl-Anthony Towns (two), and Micheal Williams (two).
Along with Randle, the other Wolves players who had one for the team are J.J. Barea, Chauncey Billups, Sam Cassell, Tyrone Corbin, Bobby Jackson, Shabazz Napier, and Andrew Wiggins.
It had been more than two and a half years since the previous triple-double for Minnesota. Randle’s game marks the first triple-double by a Timberwolves player since Kyle Anderson on March 17, 2023.
Randle is having a stellar season
Through Minnesota’s first seven contests, Randle is performing about as well as he has during any period of his 12-year career. He is handling first-option duties extremely well without Anthony Edwards.
While his rebounding is down from his best seasons (7.1 per game), the 6-foot-9 forward is also averaging 26.0 points, 5.9 assists, and 1.3 steals.
The scoring and steals average would be the highest marks of Randle's career (and just shy of his career-high average of 6.0 assists). His efficiency has been incredible thus far, as evidenced by his 55.8/43.2/83.3 shooting splits. Randle's triple-double is the cherry on top of an already impressive season.