With Mike Conley aging and Rob Dillingham not showing any improvement in his second year, nearly every point guard who reportedly may be available is linked to the Timberwolves.
Could Julius Randle be the one that Minnesota deals in order to procure a new lead guard?
Randle on the move for a point guard?
On his Insider Notebook show with Bleacher Report, Jake Fischer spoke on teams looking to make a trade. When he got to the Timberwolves, Fischer discussed the possibility of Randle being traded.
"Another name that’s interesting to me…Julius Randle, Fischer said. It’s because we keep hearing about Minnesota wanting to poke around and go big-game hunting and look at all these guards. They’re only going to be able to do that if they part ways with one of Julius Randle and Naz Reid….we’ve heard repeatedly that Minnesota is a team to monitor, particularly in the guard market."
It was in the past offseason that the Timberwolves re-signed Randle to a three-year deal worth $100 million. As of Monday, Randle (along with Bones Hyland and Joe Ingles) became eligible to be traded.
Now in his second year with the Wolves, Randle has upped his numbers pretty much across the board when compared to his first year with Minnesota. In 26 outings, the 31-year-old is posting averages of 23.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and a steal. He is getting to the free-throw line 7 times per contest, which would be a new career-high.
Randle is certainly an imperfect star. He’s not an elite defender, and he can get turnover-happy at times (although his 2.7 per game would be his lowest since 2017-18). A team can certainly have much worse as their squad’s second option.
Many of the point guards available are flawed stars
I’m sure new ownership would love to swing for the fences in order to stamp their arrival. With little draft capital, though available to be dealt away, it’s not going to be easy for them to do so.
Some of the guards being floated around as potentially available in a trade are Ja Morant, Trae Young, and LaMelo Ball. Those are three very notable players, but also ones who may be more flawed than Randle.
Maybe other names become available as we get closer to the trade deadline. I’m not saying Randle can’t be dealt, I just don’t think any of those names listed are worth dealing the three-time All-Star away.