It is hard to talk about this season's Minnesota Timberwolves without almost immediately mentioning Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. While those two are talented players and Minnesota's front office clearly wanted to bring them in at some level, there is zero doubt that incorporating them into this team has been a challenging process to say the least.
The truth is, the Timberwolves were faced with a near-impossible decision this past offseason. They were essentially forced to give up one good thing or another. Karl-Anthony Towns was of course the heart and soul of Minnesota, but management seemed to think keeping him (and his massive contract) while losing guys like Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Naz Reid would be equally or perhaps more destructive to their hopes of remaining a top-level championship contender.
It was far from an easy choice to make. But in the blink of an eye, KAT became a New York Knick and Randle/DiVincenzo made their way to the Twin Cities. Life changed overnight for the Timberwolves, and the challenge of re-shaping their Western Conference Finals roster around two new cornerstones came to the forefront.
Six weeks into the season, the Wolves are realizing that the growing pains from re-shaping their roster are cutting deeper and lasting a bit longer than they may have anticipated. There have been successes and moments of optimism, but plenty of disappointments as well. It has raised the question of whether Randle will remain with the team long-term or not.
Randle may be the biggest name in this trade deadline cycle
We knew coming into the season that Julius had a player option for next season, and he stated in October that he would be open to the idea of re-signing with the organization for the future. With that in mind, his fit with the rest of the team has been shaky at best to this point, and many have begun to wonder what happens if Randle and the Timberwolves agree to move in different directions sooner rather than later.
If that does become the case, Minnesota would have a very high-value trade candidate on their hands. In fact, as we look around the league, there are not a lot of obvious names that come up as more highly-coveted or more talented players overall than Randle. Perhaps if the Miami Heat opt to dangle Jimmy Butler in trade proposals leading up to the February deadline, he could be a bigger name. But that is still just a hypothetical at this point.
The point here being that the Wolves have a big potential opportunity on their hands. They likely would not want to punt on Randle after just a few short months, as this front office has generally shown to be patient and calculating with their moves. But if they do opt to make a change, they will have the chance to get a lot back for a former All-NBA talent.