Early in the offseason, Julius Randle re-upped with the Timberwolves on a three-year, $100 million deal. After taking some time to acclimate with his new team last season, the 30-year-old power forward settled in and performed well as Minnesota’s second option.
Randle also entered last season known for his playoff struggles during his time with the Knicks. He shot a miserable 34.4% in 15 playoff games for New York with more turnovers than assists. While he easily had the best playoffs of his career in 2025, Randle hasn’t quieted all of his detractors.
Reliable second option?
On their latest episode of The Mismatch podcast, David Jacoby and Chris Vernon answered questions about the upcoming 2025-26 NBA season. When asked which team in the West won’t be as good as people think, without hesitation, Jacoby said the Timberwolves. While he mentioned how they didn’t really add anyone notable, Jacoby also had this to say about Randle,
"“The Julius Randle that showed up in the playoffs was an anomaly. You know how I feel about Julius Randle, and the idea that he’s going to be your second best player, and Rudy Gobert isn’t getting any younger.”"David Jacoby
In the first two series against the Lakers and the Warriors, Randle was shaking off his playoff demons and scoring in an efficient manner. Draymond Green even admitted on his podcast that Randle got the better of him as the Wolves disposed of Golden State in five games.
While he didn’t shoot poorly against the Thunder in the conference finals, he wasn’t as impactful. Also, in the first two series, he had 59 assists and 31 turnovers, nearly an assist-to-turnover ratio of two. Playing the Thunder, Randle turned the ball over 18 times in the five games, compared to 15 assists. After averaging 23.9 points against Los Angeles and Golden State, that scoring average dipped down to 17.4 against OKC.
Other teams have improved in the West
The Thunder are bringing back everyone from their championship rotation. The Rockets added Kevin Durant and Dorian Finney-Smith. The Nuggets have brought in Cam Johnson, Jonas Valančiūnas, Bruce Brown, and Tim Hardaway Jr.
While the Wolves have made back-to-back conference finals appearances, many believe Denver and Houston jumped ahead of them this offseason, at least on paper. The betting odds agree as Minnesota has the fourth-best odds to come out of the West.
For the Timberwolves to reach their ultimate goals of bothreachingand winning the NBA finals, it can’t all be on Anthony Edwards. It is of the utmost importance that Julius Randle consistently performs well in the postseason in each series for Minnesotain order forthem to take that step forward.