Why Nets’ Julius Randle trade lays perfect underdog groundwork

Three years ago, a disgruntled contingent of New York Knicks fans tore down a poster of Julius Randle outside of Madison Square Garden following a poor performance against the Miami Heat in an elimination Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Knicks were eliminated from the playoffs that night, and Randle, a player who helped the team return to relevancy, was shipped to the Minnesota Timberwolves over a year later as part of a deal for Karl-Anthony Towns.

Now, in June of 2026, Randle is a member of the crosstown Brooklyn Nets, while one of his former teams is celebrating a championship victory with the very player they traded him for.

The Nets may currently feel like outsiders in their own city, and Randle is set to return to a place that both built him up and broke him down. The 31-year-old is no stranger to adversity, and might have the right mix of talent, grit, and inspiration to help lead Brooklyn back towards relevance.

“When I got traded, I’m like damn, I can’t believe this got taken from me,” Randle told Jon Krawczynski of the deal that sent him to Minnesota in 2024. “It’s like, you worked so hard to build something, and it was just snatched away.”

Julius Randle does not back down from a challenge

Before the Knicks were playoff contenders and before Jalen Brunson ever donned the orange and blue, Randle chose to take his talents to the Mecca. The Kentucky product signed a three-year, $63 million contract during the 2019 offseason. He was serviceable during his first season, but brought his game to a new level in the year that followed.

Across 71 games of the 2020-2021 campaign, the Dallas native averaged 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 6.0 assists while shooting roughly 46 percent from the field and 41 percent from distance. He logged a career-high 37.6 minutes per game and won Most Improved Player of the Year for his efforts.

Additionally, the Knicks made their first playoff appearance since 2012, and while they were sent home after five games against Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks, Randle had helped give New York fans something to cheer about for the first time in a long time.

“You know how New York is, man. You’re under a different microscope,” Randle said. “So it’s like, you’re not just battling and trying to win. It seems like you’re battling a million different things.”

The former first-round pick has become a more versatile player since that first year in the Big Apple, and this has shown during both his tenure with the Knicks and eventual growth with head coach Chris Finch and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Over 148 regular-season games with the Timberwolves, the forward averaged 20 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 4.9 assists. Across 27 postseason contests with the group, he averaged a career-best 19.2 points and shot roughly 45 percent from the field.

Fans and pundits may have a plethora of questions regarding Randle’s ability to be a consistent playoff force who helps raise a team’s ceiling. But after his most recent stops, very few would question whether or not he can be a positive influence on a team that’s attempting to be competitive after years of lackluster play.

In this way, it could be said that Randle is the perfect addition for the Nets. They boast young talents like Egor Demin and Mikel Brown Jr., and also have an older player in Michael Porter Jr., who’s been a part of a championship effort.

The addition of Randle grants Brooklyn a seasoned veteran who knows what it takes to drag a team back to the playoffs. Moreover, it is all but a certainty that the perpetual underdog will play with a brand of fearlessness that only those who’ve both succeeded dramatically and failed miserably will ever embrace.

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