Julius Randle to Nets in Reported 3-Team NBA Trade, Full Return for Wolves, Bulls Revealed

Julius Randle's time with the Minnesota Timberwolves is over after just two seasons.

Minnesota traded the forward to the Brooklyn Nets as part of a three-team deal that also included the Chicago Bulls on Monday, per ESPN's Shams Charania. In addition to the draft capital involved in the trade, Nic Claxton also ended up going to Chicago:

Mo Gueye was part of the return for the Wolves, per NBA insider Jake Fischer, but he will be waived, according to Dane Moore.

ESPN's Bobby Marks and The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski provided more context to the deal:

This comes after Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported Sunday ahead of the 2026 NBA draft that Minnesota "gauged the trade value of Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and their No. 28 first-round pick."

That the Timberwolves were potentially looking to trade Randle perhaps shouldn't have come as a significant surprise seeing how the 2026-27 season is the final one on his contract before his $35.8 million player option for the 2027-28 campaign.

Moving him now allows the team to get something of value in return before he potentially leaves down the line. It also keeps that player option off the books in the future should Randle decide to exercise it.

The Kentucky product, who came to the Timberwolves before the 2024-25 campaign as part of the trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks, is also coming off a disappointing performance in Minnesota's playoff exit.

Randle averaged just 12.8 points per game while shooting an ugly 34.2 percent from the field and 19.0 percent from deep during the Timberwolves' second-round loss to the San Antonio Spurs. What's more, he finished with five or more turnovers in three of the first four games of that series even though he isn't a primary ball-handler.

Despite the showing against the Spurs, there is still plenty to like about Randle's game.

He averaged 21.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 48.1 percent from the field last season.

The overall numbers underscored how he can impact the game in a number of ways, and he was also a go-to option in the offense as the only player for the Timberwolves outside of Anthony Edwards to average better than 14.8 points a night during the regular season.

Randle also isn't far removed from when he was an All-NBA selection in 2020-21 and again in 2022-23 when he was a member of the Knicks, although the Eastern Conference team is surely thrilled with the Towns return in the trade considering the latter helped them win a championship.

And now Randle is on the move once again as part of another trade and will look to provide veteran leadership and timely contributions for his new team after largely playing well during his time on the Timberwolves.