Julius Randle is proving night in and night out that he deserves a long-term deal from the Lakers. The only problem? The two potential superstars in waiting.
Julius Randlehas been nothing short of incredible in recent weeks. Randle has been left off of the leash and has been tearing every team he faces to shreds. Admittedly, I was a big Randle skeptic. I knew how good he was and that he was arguably the most polished young asset. However, I turned down any notion that Randle would be able to play his way into a long-term deal with theLos Angeles Lakers.
That is exactly what Randle is doing.
The power forward has seen an increased amount of looks at center and it has directly benefitted his play. In five March games, Randle is averaging 20.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. On Sunday night, against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Randledropped a career-high 36 pointsin route to a Lakers win.
It was the presence ofLeBron Jamesthat reignited the talks of the summer. James, along withPaul Georgeand countless other stars, has been tied to LA. LeBron’s ties, though, have been the strongest.
The only problem is —and has been all season — that Julius Randle is in the final year of his contract before he can become a restricted free agent. With two stars potentially in tow, the long-term future of Randle in LA was doubtful. Before the year, many would have assumed that Randle would have been traded to free upLuol Deng.
But despite all of the speculation, despitelosing his starting jobto start the year, despitefailing to reacha contract extension, Randle has played through and earned his spot on this super team. Now, the Lakers just need to find out how to keep Randle but maintain cap space for the stars.
We pieced together a step-by-step process on how.
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