Julius Randle’s Wild NBA Odyssey Rolls On as the Timberwolves Cut Him Loose on Draft Eve
On the eve of the 2026 NBA Draft, with the Minnesota cold still somehow lingering in the bones of franchise decisions made two years prior, the Timberwolves did what they always seem to do in June: blow it up and start again.
The Minnesota Timberwolves traded Julius Randle and the No. 28 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft to the Brooklyn Nets as part of a three-team deal that also included the Chicago Bulls. Randle’s $33.3 million salary for next season is now on the Nets’ books, while the Wolves will receive Brooklyn’s No. 33 pick in exchange. The Bulls, sniffing opportunity in the wreckage, completed their end of the triangle: Chicago picks up center Nic Claxton from the Nets, while Minnesota adds forward Mo Gueye from the Bulls.
This was not a trade built for headlines. It was built for survival and for one man above all others.
The Randle Era: A Complicated Chapter Closes
Julius Randle arrived in Minneapolis the way most complicated relationships begin: with excitement, promise, and a little bit of desperation. Randle came to Minnesota alongside Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick in the trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks in October 2024. A franchise center, a hometown legend, gone. In his place, a three-time All-Star with boulder shoulders and a jump shot that occasionally forgot what it was supposed to do.
The results were jagged. In 148 regular-season games with the Timberwolves, Randle averaged basically 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists on 48/33/80 shooting splits. He was a warrior in the 2025 postseason, helping Minnesota reach the Western Conference Finals. But by 2026, the cracks had widened into canyons. He struggled in a second-round loss to the San Antonio Spurs, averaging 12.8 points on 34% shooting, just 19% from three in the six-game series. When the playoffs ended, Randle skipped his exit interview altogether. The writing wasn’t just on the wall; it was spray-painted in highway letters.
What Minnesota Actually Got — And Why It Matters
On the surface, trading a 20-point-per-game scorer for the 33rd pick in the draft and an unguaranteed salary looks like a ransacked pantry. But this deal was never about what Minnesota received. It was about what Minnesota created.
With Randle on the roster, the Timberwolves would have been $27 million under the second apron of the luxury tax with just nine players on the roster. Moving Randle put them $63 million under the second apron, $50 million under the first apron, and $43 million under the tax. That is not a roster move. That is a financial resurrection.
Minnesota is taking no money back in the trade, generating a $33.3 million trade exception to use in a future deal. In the language of NBA front offices, this is ammunition. In the language of the street, this is buying yourself room to breathe and room to dream.
The Dosunmu Decision: Loyalty Locked In
With the ink barely dry on the Randle trade, Minnesota moved fast. The trade opened up financial options for Minnesota, one of which allowed it to agree to a reported five-year, $112 million deal to keep guard Ayo Dosunmu.
Dosunmu is not a superstar. But in the calculus of team-building, he is something arguably more valuable in this moment: a two-way guard who plays within the system, defends with urgency, and does not demand the ball in ways that crowd Anthony Edwards. Connelly publicly announced Dosunmu as the organization’s highest priority this summer. That public declaration was not rhetoric. It was a down payment on a philosophy: build the right culture around Ant, not just the right roster.
Naz Reid Steps Into the Spotlight
There is a secondary consequence of this trade that deserves its own standing ovation in Minneapolis. Is Naz Reid’s time as a bench player finally come to an end? This move is a big statement of belief in Reid and Jaden McDaniels, signaling that they are ready to take the next steps in their development.
Reid has averaged 13.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in just under 26 minutes a night over the past three seasons, shooting 38% from three during that span. He has been a fan favorite hiding in plain sight, a former undrafted free agent who became one of the league’s best reserve big men. Are the Wolves asking him to become something more: a legitimate starting power forward on a contending team?
The Question That Haunts Minnesota Nights
Anthony Edwards put up a career-best 28.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists this past regular season on 48.9% shooting. He is 24 years old, ascending, and increasingly watching his generation collect rings while Minneapolis watches playoff exits.
Edwards will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2028-29 season when he is 27 years old, entering the absolute peak of his basketball life. That window is not far. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that Edwards has been “frustrated” ever since the Timberwolves traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks in 2024, due to the amount of double-teams he has faced as a result.
Wolves insider Darren Wolfson reported that keeping Ant happy has become the organization’s biggest priority behind the scenes, with the fear that, at some point, Edwards’ representation could signal a desire to be elsewhere, though those close to the franchise stress that point is nowhere near.
Minnesota has some quality pieces in Edwards, Dosunmu, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, and Donte DiVincenzo, but there isn’t much room to improve the roster otherwise, and if the team stagnates, the trade whispers surrounding Edwards may only get louder.
Tim Connelly and the Wolves front office are gambling that financial flexibility that $33.3 million trade exception, that cap breathing room, that ability to make a move when the right star becomes available will ultimately prove more valuable than Randle’s 20 points in a losing postseason effort. They are betting that Ant will see the vision. They are betting that clearing the cap deck today leads to the championship conversation tomorrow.
Minnesota has always been a city that bets on its own. Now the franchise is asking Anthony Edwards to do the same.