Report: Julius Randle to Be Ready for Wolves Training Camp amid Shoulder Injury Rehab

The Minnesota Timberwolves are expected to have Julius Randle for training camp once his trade to the team is finalized, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks.

The Wolves are set to acquire Randle from the New York Knicks in a swap sending Karl-Anthony Towns the other way. The veteran forward underwent season-ending surgery in April after dislocating his right shoulder. The Knicks initially set his recovery timeline at five months.

Particularly because of that shoulder surgery, the Wolves will presumably put Randle through a physical before they formally sign off on the trade. There's almost no going back at this point given the scale of the move, but Minnesota might be able to get a bigger return from New York if Randle's physical turns up anything concerning.

The 6'8" forward isn't the only player coming to Minneapolis. Veteran guard Donte DiVincenzo will be following him.

Randle is ultimately the piece by which the Timberwolves will be judged after jettisoning their one-time franchise cornerstone.

The team won 56 games and reached the Western Conference Finals in 2023-24. Minnesota is firmly a contender in what's shaping up to a wide-open West, and Randle will need to play a pivotal role toward that effort.

The 29-year-old averaged 22.6 points and 9.9 rebounds while shooting 33.8 percent from beyond the arc in his five years with the Knicks. While a less complementary fit than Towns next to Rudy Gobert, he's a proven scorer who can also be a fulcrum of the offense when Anthony Edwards isn't on the floor.

Perhaps the value the Wolves get with Randle comes from what they trade him for down the line.

He has a player option for 2025-26, and ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported he and the Knicks "had not made progress on a contract extension this summer." Should he and Minnesota reach a similar stalemate, the team could conceivably flip him next summer

Considering how quickly the Towns blockbuster materialized, it seems nothing is off the table for president of basketball operations Tim Connelly as he orients the organization's future around Edwards.