Julius Randle was taken by the Los Angeles Lakers with the seventh overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
The organization’s hope for the Kentucky star at the time was that he would turn into a franchise cornerstone.
Unfortunately, despite showing glimpses of undeniable talent, Randle could never really put it all together in a truly consequential way on the basketball court.
Between his defensive deficiencies and one-handed tendencies, he just had a lot of flaws in his game.
Eventually, Los Angeles simply let him walk to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2018. He would play there for a bit before ultimately joining the New York Knicks,
During a recent podcast appearance, Randle pointed to the looming arrival of LeBron James as the reason his time with the Lakers came to an abrupt conclusion.
“I was really starting to blossom into like a consistent player,” he said.
“… I remember during that year, I was on bit of a run… All right man, I just played my ass off… I’m definitely getting paid. I obviously wanted to be with the Lakers.”
Randle’s recollection of some of those events is in fact true. He did have a huge contract year.
“But it was like, it really didn’t matter,” he continued.
“Obviously, Bron was coming and stuff, so like it was like get your ass out of here. it was also tricky, I was a restricted free agent, when you are under those guidelines, it’s a wait-and-see game… The money basically dried up. I was kind of like in limbo.”
Olivia Dunne’s Provocative Hotel Room Selfie Causes A Stir: https://t.co/k3mTr4HRWY
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While finances certainly played a role in Randle’s departure, he is ignoring a pretty important second factor: his consistently disappointing play before and after his time in Los Angeles came to an end.
The truth of the matter is that, while Randle is definitely a talented player in certain regards, he also has a ton of very notable weaknesses. There is a reason nobody in the league wanted to acquire him last year when he was on the trade block.
You simply cannot build a franchise around him – as the Knicks later learned firsthand.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
