It was a bit shocking to see the New York Knicks trade Julius Randle in a package for Karl-Anthony Towns but the writing did appear to be on the wall. New York had a drastic need to upgrade their center position and with just one guaranteed year left on his contract, it did appear as if the Knicks were slowly moving away from Randle as a key piece of their core - especially after the recent additions of OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges.
Nevertheless, I'm not sure anyone anticipated the Knicks pulling off a trade days before the start of training camp. But what's done is done. And looking at the bright side of things, Randle was a player that did deserve a fresh start at this point in his career. It was becoming clear that he was no longer a primary piece in the Knicks' build and now with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he'll emerge as an important key to a possible championship puzzle.
After the trade to the Wolves, Randle now says he feels "wanted" and the move was a "breath of fresh air." While both of those things can be true, we must remember one thing - nothing has changed on his contract front and his future is still very much up in the air.
Why Julius Randle may not have a future with the Wolves
We have to remember that part of the reason why the Wolves needed or wanted to trade KAT is because of their salary cap issues they were up against. Getting off of KAT's huge contract does help the team some but if they're going to continue to build around Anthony Edwards heading into the future, this is a team that is going to continue to need financial flexibility.
I'm not saying Minnesota traded KAT is a straight salary dump move but that was at least part of the idea of the deal. If Randle does emerge as a key piece for the Wolves and helps them get back to the Western Conference Finals or even break through to the NBA Finals, then sure he probably is re-signed. But I'm just saying that we don't have any clue what the plan is for the Wolves moving forward.
And that's kind of the reason why they wanted to get out from under KAT's deal. They now have financial flexibility they didn't have before. What does that mean for Randle? Who knows. But if one thing's for sure, it's that Randle's future is still very much up in the air and he's certainly a name to watch as we get closer to not only the NBA Trade Deadline but also next offseason.
