One of the main reasons the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs was the play of Julius Randle. The forward got some revenge on his former team and is in the midst of by far his best postseason run of his career as the Timberwolves are set to begin the Western Conference Finals.
Randle, of course, spent his first four NBA seasons with the Lakers before moving on in free agency in 2018. That last season in L.A. was his best, and was also his lone season as a teammate of Lonzo Ball who was a rookie that year. And Ball continues to root for his teammate years later, especially when remembering what he feels was disrespectful treatment towards Randle by then-Lakers coach Luke Walton.
In the latest episode of “What An Experience” with Lonzo Ball, the now-Bulls guard recalls speaking up on Randle’s behalf about the role the Lakers envisioned for him that season:
“I heard one of the craziest things I ever heard in my life when I was on that team. They sat us all down early in the season in the locker room, went through everybody’s roles and shit. They got to [Julius Randle]. They talking about ‘Just rebound and set screens, nothing else.’ I’m like, ‘What the f—?’ So then I’m like, ‘Nah,’ I low-key spoke up. I’m talking about ‘Nah’. Like he one of our best players, he the only one that can do everything. And then after that, shit, that’s when we got cool after that. But nah, they was disrespecting him crazy in L.A., bro. And now look what he doing now. So I’m definitely happy to see him doing his thing.”
That Lakers team had a ton of promising young talent with Randle, Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr. and Josh Hart all on the roster. For the Lakers staff to see Randle as just a rebounder and screener says far more about them, especially as he would go on to be the Lakers’ leading scorer and rebounder that season.
That surely played a role in Randle moving on that offseason, though the Lakers were also clearing out room to sign LeBron James so the split was mutual for both sides. Regardless, he has grown by leaps and bounds since moving on and he made the Lakers pay in these playoffs big time.
Julius Randle credits Lakers legend Kobe Bryant for helping him deal with adversity
Julius Randle’s career didn’t get off to the best start as he broke his leg in his very first game with the Lakers. But the forward is thankful that he had Lakers legend Kobe Bryant as a teammate to help him through with lessons that he still holds on to.
Randle credited Bryant with teaching him how to deal with adversity, noting that Kobe had the mindset of what’s next and how can you improve in through these situations, which is something he kept throughout his career.
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