On Sunday night, the Los Angeles Lakers were able to get a big win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the win, Julius Randle had a monster night.
One of the top players for the Los Angeles Lakers this season has been Julius Randle. Since being inserted into the starting lineup, Randle has been arguably the best player for the Lakers this season.
Since the Lakers were hosting LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, there was obviously a lot of talk about his upcoming free agency. While LeBron is obviously going to be a target of the Lakers this offseason, he wasn’t the only other upcoming free agent in the game.
One of the big question marks for the Lakers this offseason will be what they decide to do with Julius Randle. As a restricted free agent, the Lakers do have final say in Randle’s future, but they could elect to pursue two max players like LeBron and Paul George, which would result in Randle playing elsewhere next season.
Since this is a contract year for Randle, he has been able to perform quite well for the Lakers and is certainly opening eyes around the league. On the nationally televised win against the Cavaliers, Randle had one of the best games of his career.
In the win, Randle totaled 36 points on 14-for-18 shooting from the field. In addition to the new career-high in points, Randle totaled 14 rebounds and seven assists. Randle has really been playing a very high level over the past few months, and that has helped them play as well as they have recently.
Even though LeBron is going to be the marquee free agent in this class, Randle is proving to the Lakers and the rest of the NBA that is might be an emerging star in his own right. At just 23-years-old, the improvement that Randle has shown over the past few months is certainly a great sign for the type of player he can become.
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Since the All-Star break, Randle is nearly averging 20 points and 10 rebounds per game, which would put him in some elite company. With his strong play, Randle is certainly going to be making the decisions this offseason for the Lakers more difficult.