Minnesota Timberwolves star Jaden McDaniels was taken aback when told that teammate Julius Randle had been traded to the Brooklyn Nets on Monday.
The All-Defensive wing was apparently on vacation with his partner, Allison Audrey, when a fan approached him, as seen in the video below.
“That’s crazy,” McDaniels said when informed, as he browsed through his phone.
Perhaps McDaniels thinks it’s “crazy” that Randle, a three-time All-Star in his prime, will be headed to a rebuilding team like the Nets.
As part of a three-team trade, the Chicago Bulls acquired athletic big man Nic Claxton, while the Timberwolves landed the No. 33 pick in this week’s NBA Draft. The Timberwolves also sent their No. 28 pick to the Nets in addition to Randle.
Why Timberwolves Traded Randle
Per multiple insiders, the Timberwolves traded Randle in a salary-dump move to create enough cap room to re-sign Ayo Dosunmu to a five-year, $112 million deal. Furthermore, the move helped them create salary cap flexibility, as explained by ESPN.
“Minnesota also now will have the $15.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception and the $5.5 million biannual exception to fill out the roster in free agency and had a $33.3 million trade exception created, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.”
After trading Randle, the Timberwolves are now expected to move perennial Sixth Man of the Year candidate Naz Reid into the role of starting power forward. Furthermore, Dosunmu will now form a lethal backcourt duo with franchise star Anthony Edwards, while Jaden McDaniels keeps his spot as the starting 3-and-D small forward.
Timberwolves Lock Up Ayo Dosunmu
ESPN’s Zach Kram praised the Timberwolves for empowering Reid and Dosunmu with shrewd moves on Monday.
“At 26 years old, Dosunmu’s new deal will take him through the rest of his prime, and the team is counting on further development after his career year,” wrote Kram.
“It’s unclear whether Dosunmu’s ceiling warrants a nine-figure deal with a player option, however. He’s a solid all-around player who doesn’t have an obvious carrying skill: a fine passer, but overqualified as a lead creator; a useful defender, but with strangely muted steal rates (his career high is 0.9 per game); a knockdown shooter, but on relatively low volume.”
The insider gave the Timberwolves a B- grade for their moves on Monday.
“The Minnesota Timberwolves didn’t waste any time making use of the cap space they freed up by salary dumping Julius Randle,” he wrote. “On the same night they agreed to trade Randle to Brooklyn, they also agreed to re-sign Ayo Dosunmu, whom they’d initially acquired at the February trade deadline, to a nine-figure deal.
“The new contract means a massive windfall for Dosunmu, a former second-round pick who’d earned less than $25 million in his career until now. He clearly aced his audition with his new team, with a strong close to the regular season and an eye-opening performance in the playoffs.”
Timberwolves Star Has Viral Reaction to Julius Randle Trade