Nick Young thinks Julius Randle deserves a huge free agent contract

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By Dan Karpuc

Published Apr 3, 2018

Randle has been sensational lately and will likely be very rich in a couple months

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Los Angeles Lakers big man Julius Randle has been on an absolute tear recently.

In the month of March, he averaged 22.3 points and 9.9 rebounds in 34.8 minutes per contest. Starting beside Brook Lopez in the frontcourt, Randle has capitalized on increased playing time under head coach Luke Walton, who has tightened his rotations in an obvious way.

Earlier this season, Randle’s minutes were limited off the bench. Trade rumors involving him seemingly floated around every single day. But, as the season progressed and the trade deadline passed, the 23-year-old carved out a gigantic role and might have even created the idea that he could be one of the organization’s cornerstones of the future.

Although the Lakers will almost assuredly extend a $5.5 million qualifying offer his way this summer, Randle will undoubtedly receive a lucrative, multi-year offer sheet by another team in restricted free agency. As seen in recent offseasons, players like Allen Crabbe and Tyler Johnson have received life-altering sums of money in the same scenario.

That being said, the Lakers will have an opportunity to match any offer sheet that comes Randle’s way. But, they’ll have to make a major decision. If they re-sign Randle, they almost certainly will not be able to pursue two max-contract All-Stars in free agency, which has been a goal that Magic Johnson made very clear since he took over as president of basketball operations. If they’re able to find a trade suitor for Luol Deng, the numbers might be able to work themselves out, but they’ll most certainly need to include at least one first-round pick in order to make that happen based on the ludicrous amount of money still owed to him.

One former teammate that is in Randle’s corner is Nick Young, who now plays for the Golden State Warriors.

"I think this summer's going to be good for him," Swaggy P recently told Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times. "When you know what somebody's been going through and you see the adversity he's going through — he's a good dude — when you overcome all that, can't help but cheer for him. When you hear the talks of being traded, they want somebody else, you don't feel like you're part of the team. He stayed focused. … He was getting ready. He lost a lot of weight. In the weight room. He stayed with it. You can't knock the man. They gotta pay him. Somebody's gotta pay him.”