What the Julius Randle trade means for Jaden McDaniels and the Wolves’ young core
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GradesLive Picks TrackerBest Available PlayersAJ Dybantsa To WizardsTop 75 Prospects AnalysisWhat the Julius Randle trade means for Jaden McDaniels and the Wolves’ young core
With Julius Randle gone, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Ayo Dosunmu will need to shoulder more of the offensive load. Alex Slitz / Getty Images
By Jon KrawczynskiJune 23, 2026 8:39 am EDT UpdatedMINNEAPOLIS — Everyone in Minnesota knew that something had to change with the Timberwolves roster coming off of their second-round exit in this year’s playoffs.
Wolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly spent weeks burning up the phone lines looking for splash moves to change the complexion of the team around face-of-the-franchise Anthony Edwards. The easy place to point to was in the front court, where Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert both have had great moments in Wolves jerseys, but also seemed to be ill-fitting pieces right next to each other.
With an artificial deadline of Tuesday’s first round of the NBA Draft bearing down on the Wolves, Connelly looked at the landscape and made a surprising declaration. With no deals available to get real value back for Randle, Connelly decided to make a move that would prioritize empowering the team’s young core over finding help from outside of the team.
Connelly agreed to trade Randle and the 28th pick in the first round to Brooklyn for the 33rd pick, team sources told The Athletic. The Brooklyn Nets also sent center Nic Claxton to Chicago and the Bulls sent Minnesota center Mouhamadou Gueye, who will be waived. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal cannot be officially announced until July 6.
The move had two big impacts on the Wolves roster. It is a giant vote of confidence in Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid, both of whom will assume much larger roles next season. It also freed up the cap room to re-sign Ayo Dosunmu to a five-year, $112 million contract, open up the full mid-level exception to aid the pursuit of more talent and positioned the Timberwolves to avoid the luxury tax next season if they stand pat.
It is a risky decision as Edwards prepares to enter his prime. The Timberwolves made back-to-back Western Conference finals appearances in 2024 and 2025, but took a step back in competitiveness this season when the San Antonio Spurs eliminated them in the second round. And they just salary dumped a player that was a major piece of the blockbuster trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota to New York in 2024.
Randle averaged 21.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists for the Wolves last season. Coach Chris Finch called him the team’s most important player because of his need to deftly toggle between scorer and playmaker for a team that did not have a true point guard in the starting lineup. He was the team’s best player in playoff wins over the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors in 2025, but struggled mightily against the Spurs in the second round this season. Randle averaged 12.8 points and shot 34 percent from the field and 19 percent from 3-point range in the series, won by the Spurs, 4-2, and he bore the brunt of the criticism from Wolves fans for the team falling short.
“He’ll be the first to tell you didn’t play his best basketball versus San Antonio,” Connelly said after the season ended. “I think his playmaking, I think his on-ball defense, his physicality was really impactful. So we don’t win because of one player, lose because of one player. I think when we lost in the fashion we lost to San Antonio, they were clearly the better team, and we have to look at the collective, me included, the whole building. What can we all do better to ensure that we don’t see the same result next season?”
It appears that the Randle family is welcoming the move back to New York after spending five seasons in the city with the Knicks. Kendra Randle, Julius’s wife, posted several messages on her Instagram stories.
“New York friends and family, we’re backkkk omg,” she wrote, before filming a message from their oldest son, Kyden, who became a headline attraction at Target Center this season for his celebrations of Wolves highlights.
“Yo, it’s Ky, I’m so happy to be back in New York,” he said. “Let’s go Nets.”
The Wolves could not afford to run it back again after making minimal changes to the group in the summer of 2025, especially after watching Towns win a championship in New York this season. Edwards wants to win right now, and the Wolves are banking on addition by subtraction, believing that removing Randle’s ISO-heavy offensive game and redistributing his 15.3 shots per game to McDaniels and Reid will open things up for Minnesota in a different way.
McDaniels took a big step forward with his offense, averaging a career-high 14.8 points and shooting 41 percent from 3-point range. Barring another trade for a more proven star, McDaniels will assume the role of the No. 2 offensive option on the team behind Edwards. His increased playmaking and shot creation last season, coupled with a dominant playoff series against Denver, gave the Wolves hope that he is ready for a bigger role on a consistent basis.
Reid is now slated to be the primary starter at power forward for the first time in his career, a team source said. He has been the good soldier for the first seven seasons of his career, dutifully playing the role of super sub and winning Sixth Man of the Year in 2024. He has taken a backseat to Towns and Randle, but always quietly pined for the starting spot. Now he has it.
Reid will give the Wolves more spacing than Randle did. He is a career 37 percent 3-point shooter, which will give the Wolves starting lineup much-needed spacing. Randle converted just 31 percent from deep last season, which combined with Rudy Gobert’s non-existent shooting to allow opposing defenses to load up on Edwards at the point of attack. Reid’s shooting and quick decision-making should breathe some life into the Wolves offense and give Edwards a little bit more room to operate.
There could be concerns with Reid on defense, given that he is not as burly or strong as Randle at the 4. But Reid has always paired well with Gobert on that end. Last season, the two had a defensive rating of 106.3 and a net rating of 6.8 when playing together, per NBA.com.
The trade also opens up legitimate playing time for Joan Beringer, the first-round pick the Wolves also got in return for KAT, next season. Beringer appeared in only 40 games last season, averaging just 7.9 minutes in those games. With Gobert, Randle and Reid on the roster, there were not many minutes to go around. Now that Randle is headed back to the East Coast, Finch will have to give Beringer more consistent minutes behind Gobert.
But as difficult as it was to watch Randle in the series against San Antonio, and as moody as he could be on the court at times, the asset management portion of the deal is not great. Randle is a productive and skilled player who embraced being in Minnesota after coming over in the trade from New York. That is not always easy to find. Having to move back five spots in the draft to get off of a player of Randle’s caliber stings, even if he did play poorly against the Spurs. Only having Beringer and DiVincenzo, who will miss much of next season with a torn Achilles, left from the Towns trade is not ideal.
New Timberwolves owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have been vocal in their commitment to investing in the team. The new collective bargaining agreement was designed in part to give owners all over the league a reason not to spend their money, with rules punishing big spenders more than they ever have before. A retreat from the luxury tax, after Edwards played so hard while dealing with two knee injuries in the playoffs last season, may not go over well even if so many teams are making similar moves to avoid the most punitive measures built into the collective bargaining agreement.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, for instance, just dumped Aaron Wiggins to Atlanta to save over $60 million in luxury tax payments. Just days after winning the Knicks’ first championship in 53 years, owner James Dolan said he would not cross the second apron threshold so he could avoid some of the team-building penalties that come with spending that much money.
Dosunmu averaged 14.4 points and shot 41 percent from 3 in 24 games after coming to Minnesota in the trade from Chicago, then battled through a calf issue in the playoffs. After trading Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller and four second-round picks to Chicago for Dosunmu in February, the Wolves could not afford to let him walk for free.
Dosunmu figured to have several suitors on the open market, but Connelly came forward with a deal that averages over $22 million per season. It may have been slightly over what Dosunmu could have commanded in free agency, but the Randle deal allowed the Wolves to quickly take care of him while also staying under the tax, which isn’t just something that saves Lore and Rodriguez a few bucks. It also opens up the mid-level exception for them, which allows them to add a player in free agency for up to $15 million per season. That is enough for a good rotation player in this market.
If the Wolves largely stand pat, this bet on the existing roster has to pay off. McDaniels and Reid have gotten better every summer. Beringer is already showing promise with rim-rattling dunks in scrimmages. This young core, which now includes Dosunmu, has to fit together better around Edwards than last season’s version did. Edwards, McDaniels and Reid have been through the fires together dating back to 2020. Now the opportunity is there for them to take the next step.
Or this could be just the first move in a multi-step roster restructuring. The Wolves are currently $31 million below the first apron, with a roster full of good-value contracts. They have more flexibility than they have had in years, and Connelly could go out looking for another significant piece to bring a more dramatic change to the team. The Wolves are not pursuing Memphis point guard Ja Morant, according to team sources, but will continue to canvas the league for other possibilities.
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Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
