The Los Angeles Lakers have been rebuilding for the past few years and Julius Randle would like to see the rebuild through.
There have been some tough years for the Los Angeles Lakers recently. After years of success with Kobe Bryant, the Lakers fell on hard times the past few seasons and their rebuild has not been easy.
With a lack of draft picks and some poor decisions in free agency, the rebuild for the Lakers has taken a lot longer than many would have hoped. One of the first pieces the Lakers began to rebuild with was with Julius Randle.
Randle was selected by the Lakers in 2014, and was the first high pick in the rebuild for the Lakers. Unfortunately, Randle suffered a season-ending leg injury in his rookie season and was not able to play.
Since that horrible start to his career, Randle has really improved as a basketball player. Last season, Randle had a career-year for the Lakers, as he was arguably their best player. Despite the great season, Randle’s future with Los Angeles is very uncertain.
However, on the Woj Pod with Adrian Wojnarowski, Randle talked about liking to see this rebuild through. Here’s what he said with text via LakersNation.com.
"“That would be really cool. I feel like I’ve been the start of the rebuilding process. I was the first lottery picks when they started getting lottery picks. I mean, yeah, it would be cool. But for me, I can’t really sit and imagine things. You have dreams, you write your goals down, whatever it is. But I just keep my head down and work.”"
For Randle, all he has known with Lakers is losing, and him wanting to win in Los Angeles is perfectly natural. Since drafting Randle, the Lakers have done a nice job in the NBA Draft and have built a really solid young core of players. Pairing those players with cap space has put the Lakers in a great position to make the playoffs next season.
With dreams of landing two max players, it could come at the cost of Randle. Even though he played great last season, the Lakers would likely not pass up a chance to land LeBron James and Paul George to keep Randle.
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Since he is a restricted free agent, the Lakers will have a final say on what happens to Randle. However, we will have to see how free agency shakes out.