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• Updated May 16, 2026 at 9:50pm

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Julius Randle, Anthony Edwards, and Rudy Gobert during Game 4 of the West Semifinals between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors on May 12, 2025.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are expected to have a big offseason looking to upgrade the roster for a better chance at title contention. Minnesota has run into better teams of the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs eliminating them the past two postseasons. Change is clearly needed for the Timberwolves to make up the ground to truly contend in the stacked Western Conference.

Dunkin with Wolves reports that one name is most likely to get traded for the biggest change:

“Let’s start off with the obvious: Julius Randle is poised to find a new home this offseason. This marks back-to-back playoffs against top-end teams where Randle has struggled mightily. When the Timberwolves traded for him, they hoped he’d be a viable second option next to (Anthony) Edwards.

However, Randle hasn’t proven he can be that against the best teams, and his success is very much matchup dependent. Randle’s play in the Spurs series was disastrous on all fronts. Without a doubt, Randle’s inability to provide secondary creation alongside Edwards was a key reason why the Wolves lost.”

Randle averaged just 12.8 points on 34% field shooting from the field and an abysmal 19% shooting from three-point range. Minnesota can’t rely on Randle’s regular season production to be anywhere near that quality in the playoffs. Trading him is the only way to fix this issue before next season.

Timberwolves Lost Controversial Trade With Knicks

Minnesota took a huge risk when they acquired Randle from the New York Knicks in a blockbuster trade. The Knicks traded both Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to add All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns to the roster.

Randle’s struggles and DiVincenzo’s injury saw the Timberwolves getting nothing from either party this series. Meanwhile, Towns has helped the Knicks get to their second consecutive Eastern Conference Finals, where they are favored to win and make the NBA Finals.

Minnesota traded Towns after their first Western Conference Finals appearance in two decades due to not wanting to pay him. Management decided that having Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid on the roster made Towns expendable for his high price. Unfortunately, the trade has clearly seen New York winning it after two full seasons.

Julius Randle’s Trade Value Hurts Minnesota

Randle’s postseason is likely going to tank any trade value that he had and will force the Timberwolves to get creative. Big names will be hard to get with their limited assets, so they’ll have to figure out a difficult path.

Minnesota has been rumored to have interest in Giannis Antetokoumpo, but they’ll have to offer a lot more. Randle could help match the salary for the Milwaukee Bucks to let him play there to increase their lackluster roster, if the Timberwolves are willing to offer a boatload of picks.

Other options would see the Timberwolves either taking on a flawed player’s salary or trading Randle for multiple lesser players to improve their overall depth. Regardless, Randle is going to be shopped this summer since he’s been exposed as a real problem for Minnesota against the elite West teams.