One of the possible storylines to follow this coming season will be the future of Julius Randle with Los Angeles Lakers.
After falling on some hard times, the Los Angeles Lakers are working hard to get back to their glory. So far, Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have done a very nice job in the front office, as they have added some stability and a clear direction.
That direction has been very obvious. The Lakers want to grow their young core, and then sign some superstars in the summer. In recent years, the Lakers have used high draft picks on Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, and most recently, Lonzo Ball.
This offseason, Magic and Pelinka made it pretty clear that only Ingram was an untouchable talent. In order to move the poor contract of Timofey Mozgov, the Lakers packaged him with D’Angelo Russell and sent them to the Brooklyn Nets.
The trading of Russell surprised many, but the Lakers clearly want to position themselves for a loaded free agency class next offseason. In addition to trading Russell, the Lakers were also willing to move Randle if would have helped them acquire Paul George this offseason.
No deal with George to the Lakers ended up happening, as he was sent to the Oklahoma City Thunder instead. So now, the Lakers still have a great young core of Randle, Ingram, and Ball. However, Randle’s time in Los Angeles might be coming to an end.
As an upcoming restricted free agent, Randle is set to get paid. The Lakers have made it clear that they want to have as much cap space as possible for next offseason, and that could mean Randle won’t be in the picture. Recently, we polled fans to see if they would be surprised if Randle was traded at some point this season. Here were the results.
Would you be surprised if the #Lakers traded Julius Randle this season, knowing that he will need to be paid soon? #LakeShow
— Lake Show Life (@TheLakeShowLife) August 8, 2017
As you can see, not too many people would be surprised if Randle were to be traded this season. Considering the Lakers’ plan to have cap space for next offseason, moving Randle next certainly makes a lot of sense.
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Since Randle should have a lot of value this season, they might even be able to pair him with Luol Deng, similarly to what they did with Russell and Mozgov. A lot will depend on how the season goes for the Lakers, but don’t be surprised to see Randle’s name mentioned in trade rumors this season.