The New York Knicks' decision to trade forward Julius Randle, guard Donte DiVincenzo, a first-round pick, and other pieces to the Minnesota Timberwolves for forward Karl-Anthony Towns was extremely unexpected and turned the NBA on its head with training camp merely days away. Perhaps most of all, though, it was stunning to see both franchises ship off players who were central to their recent returns to championship contention— Towns in the case of the Timberwolves, and Randle in the case of the Knicks.
On Thursday, Randle and Minnesota's other new faces met with media for the first time since the transaction. There, Randle revealed his reaction to the trade, which sounded pretty similar to how the rest of the NBA world felt: shocked. However, he also expressed how much he's looking forward to working in Minnesota.
"It was a lot of emotion," he said. "You spend a lot of time living in one place, you know, New York, going there five years ago... A lot of blood, sweat, and tears put into that organization and uniform. Initially, it's always going to be a shock.
"Afterwards I woke up the next morning and I was really, really excited," Randle continued. "It was a breath of fresh air. I'm excited to bring everything that I learned here over the past five years and help these guys out."
Two sides to every coin—the shock factor of the trade, and then looking at what's next. An honest answer from the physical forward.
Randle is entering the final year of a four-year, $117 million deal that comes with a $31 million player option for the 2025-26 season. The Timberwolves hope he can, indeed, come in and help out the largely-intact core that took the franchise to its first Western Conference Finals in decades.
Randle averaged 24 points and 9.2 rebounds as an All-Star for New York last season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Julius Randle Shares Honest Reaction to Stunning Trade From Knicks.
