Lakers Rumors: Julius Randle not in the long-term plan for LA

The latest Lakers rumors now indicate that Julius Randle is well on his way out of LA.

As Los Angeles navigates its first season under Lonzo Ball, it appears that another big change from in house could be on its way. According to Bleacher Report  Julius Randle won’t be in the long term plans of the team moving forward.

Los Angeles is just coming off their sixth loss of the season against the Boston Celtics, and just fell below .500 after winning a few in a row. While the report says that Randle not having a future in Los Angeles is “unlikely”, the fact that it has actually reached this point isn’t a good indication for the power forward.

The Lakers already made a shock move over the summer when they traded D’Angelo Russell to Brooklyn; Julius Randle was still a rumored trade piece at that time as well.

However, with this new report, this gives the Lakers the ability to just let him walk over the summer. Randle’s contract will be up when the summer hits, and by then the Lakers will have a better idea of who they are going to chase in free agency.

Per Bleacher Report’s piece:

"It’s been the Lakers’ stated goal to clear cap space in advance of next summer. In fact, Pelinka went so far as to tell The Dan Patrick Show in July that he was hoping to open up two max slots so L.A. could pursue a pair of stars."

It remains to be seen who will actually emerge as the superstar front-runner to be pursued by the Lakers. Whether that could be LeBron James or someone else would mean that there would have to be both cap space and mutual interest to move forward.

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Perhaps the front office sees moving Julius Randle as more necessary because he didn’t seem thrilled about having to come off the bench. If LA makes a deal before the deadline this season instead of letting him walk, there are a number of trade scenarios to play with.