Julius Randle is having an All-Star-level season, and this year has been further proof that he is an amazing fit next to Anthony Edwards. Despite Randle's stellar offensive play, his defense has been subpar this season. Notably, the Minnesota Timberwolves are 10.3 points per 100 possessions worse on defense with Randle on the court, according to Cleaning the Glass.
However, Randle has all the tools to be a two-way force, and we've seen flashes of this two-way upside in specific games -- most notably, against the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. During Thursday's win over the Thunder, we saw a fantastic defensive performance from Randle, playing awesome on-ball defense while racking up a season-high five stocks.
While single-game on/off numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, it's not nothing that with Randle on the court, Minnesota had a 102 defensive rating, and without him, the team had a 125.5 DRTG.
Julius Randle incredible on-ball defense + block on Chet Holmgren, Jaden McDaniels nasty transition dunk WOW pic.twitter.com/8gG1WMtPiM
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) January 30, 2026
In last year's playoffs, we saw Randle play lockdown on-ball defense, particularly in the first two rounds. If the Wolves can get consistent defensive production from Randle, the sky is truly the limit for this team.
Randle providing the Wolves with consistent defense would be a game-changer
Randle's on-ball defense has generally been pretty decent this season.
He has a solid 46.7 defensive field goal percentage (league average is 48.5 percent). For the year, Randle has held Chet Holmgren to 33.3 percent shooting, Victor Wembanyama to 44.4 percent shooting, Pascal Siakam to 28.6 percent shooting, and Jamal Murray to 30.6 percent shooting.
Big Ju excels at using his immense strength to wall up offensive players. This is effective against gangly bigs like Wemby and Chet but also smaller guards like Murray. At his best, Randle looks like a borderline elite on-ball stopper.
Nevertheless, he isn't engaged off the ball enough. Oftentimes, he gets caught ball watching, is slow on rotations, and makes little to no impact as a defensive playmaker. However, Thursday's game paints a picture of how impactful Randle is as a defender when he's engaged -- and that's something he must buy into for the rest of the year.
On-ball defense will likely always be more of his strength, but with more attention to detail off the ball, Randle could be a highly impactful defender.
The Wolves have the league's fifth-ranked defense, and that's without their two best players consistently buying into the defensive end of the floor. Yes, Anthony Edwards' defense has been subpar as well this year. When the whole team is engaged like they were on Thursday night, though, they are one of the toughest matchups in the league.
Ultimately, if the Wolves can get consistent defensive production from Randle (and Edwards), they could feasibly reach their championship aspirations.