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Let’s face it, last June’s big move, the three-team deal that brought Julius Randle to Brooklyn, was a salary dump on behalf of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Nets got the 31-year-old Randle — and a second first round pick in the next night’s draft — for Nic Claxton who wouldn’t even be sent to Minnesota.
Claxton would wind up with the Chicago Bulls. The T’Wolves got a second rounder from the Nets, along with cap space and a big trade exception. The deal permitted Minnesota to sign Ayo Dusumu to a five-year $112 million deal hours later. Clearly, the T’Wolves valued the young Dusumu over the veteran Randle.
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Still, it should wind up as a good deal for Sean Marks & co., just like last year’s big salary dump with Denver Nuggets that brought them Michael Porter Jr. Randle is one of a handful of players to average 20+points, grab 6+ rebounds and hand out 5+ assists last season … and he played in 79 games.
There are a lot of people though who look past that stat and the three NBA All-Star selections and two All-NBA selections and see a relic of another era, someone who makes his money pounding in the paint. Most of all they wonder how Randle can fit with MPJ. Those two will be getting the bulk of the minutes upfront along with Day’Ron Sharpe.
Steve Lichtenstein writing for his Steve’s Newsletter laid out the basics.
It can be tricky for a HC to have two players who consider themselves the team’s alpha, especially when one, in this case Porter, will be playing on an expiring contract (barring the remote event an extension agreement is reached before the season). Randle has a $35.8 million player option for 2027-28.
Porter is coming off the most prolific season of his seven-year career in nearly every raw category, not to mention breaking his previous high usage percentage by a large margin. With the exception of the 18 games he played with Cam Thomas, Porter was typically Brooklyn’s sole available offensive force, which he seemed to relish by performing at an All-Star level (even if he was robbed of the honor).
That offense was the worst in the NBA in both offensive efficiency and points scored last season….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/where-michael-porter-jr-julius-193056641.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-15 19:30:00
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