The Los Angeles Lakers are on a roll as of late, winning five straight games including an exciting 116-112 come-from-behind victory over the San Antonio Spurs on the road last Saturday. Lonzo Ball was remarkable during crunch time against the Spurs, but it was Julius Randle who rallied the team from start to finish.
Randle led the Lakers with 25 points, six rebounds, and three assists during the night, shooting 8-for-15 from the floor and 9-for-11 from the foul line. The former Kentucky standout’s recent string of impressive performances coincides with head coach Luke Walton inserting him back to the team’s starting lineup early this year.
Despite being mentioned in a lot of trade rumors as last month’s trade deadline approached, the Lakers chose to keep Randle and it was proven to be a wise decision for the squad.
The Lakers’ management is set to face another key decision this summer when Randle enters restricted free agency. The seventh overall pick of the 2014 draft is expected to receive various offers from different NBA teams that will try to persuade him to leave Hollywood town.
There were reports saying that the Lakers might have a hard time achieving their goal of signing two superstar free agents this summer if they would have to re-sign Randle to a bigger contract, which means that losing the Dallas native is bound to happen.
However, Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus had written a comprehensive article on how L.A. can acquire both LeBron and George while still getting to keep Randle. In a nutshell, Pincus said that trading Luol Deng’s $36.8 million contract “may be the best answer” to pull the whole thing off, but evidently, it would be easier said than done.
Meanwhile, Lakers Nation’s Trevor Lane said in his recent podcast with guest reporter Hannah Kulik that James and George would be “feeling a lot better” about joining the Lakers “if Randle was there.” Lane noted that with Randle growing to become the team’s “go-to scorer” and overall leader would help convince the two All-Stars that they are joining a team that has enough talent to contend for the title after their addition.
Lane then said that keeping Randle might not be a “huge deciding factor” to exactly lure the two aforementioned superstars, but having Randle on the roster would definitely make the Lakers “a more appealing team” for free agents this summer and in the future.
