We all knew tough decisions needed to be made for the Minnesota Timberwolves this offseason, it was just a matter of when and who would be involved.
The first domino fell on Monday, the eve of the 2026 NBA Draft, when Minnesota traded away veteran forward Julius Randle in a three-team deal with the Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls.
ESPN’s Shams Charania, who first broke the news Monday night, reports the Wolves are sending Randle and their 28th overall pick in the 2026 draft to Brooklyn, with Nic Claxton going from Brooklyn to Chicago and Minnesota acquiring the Nets’ 33rd pick in the 2026 draft.
According to Jake Fischer, the Wolves are also getting guard Mouhamadou Gueye from the Bulls, though he will likely be waived by Minnesota following the completion of the trade.
The deal clears a good amount of salary on Minnesota’s payroll, with Randle still holding two years on his deal with the Wolves. Prior to the 2025-26 season, Randle signed a three-year, $100 million deal to remain in Minnesota.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes, this move gave the Wolves more wiggle room to re-sign Ayo Dosunmu — which they reportedly did shortly after the Randle trade — also creating a $33.3 million trade exception to go along with a $15 million non-tax midlevel and $5.5 million biannual exception.
Randle’s Time in Minnesota
Randle spent two full seasons with the Wolves, arriving prior to the 2024-25 season in the blockbuster trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks in a three-team trade.
In two seasons in Minnesota, Randle averaged 20.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 0.9 steals over 32.7 minutes in 148 regular season games, shooting 48.2% from the field and 32.9% from three. In 27 playoff games with the Wolves, Randle averaged 19.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 0.7 steals over 34.6 minutes.
After helping Minnesota to the Western Conference Finals in his first season with the team, Randle was rewarded with a multi-year contract extension with the Wolves prior to the 2025-26 season. That was a move that puzzled some who thought Minnesota made the trade for Randle in order to move on from him after his contract expired to allow for more salary flexibility.
However, Randle returned to the Twin Cities in 2025-26, taking the floor with the Wolves for what he thought was the next few years. However, that time in the Land of 10,000 Lakes came to an end Monday as he now heads back out East to Brooklyn.
We all knew the Wolves were going to shake things up to some extent and make some moves this offseason. Now we know Randle is the first domino to fall — and Minnesota might not be done yet.