Help request: Why did we trade Julius Randle?

Discoflux

Sorry I'm a late comer to this- can someone point me to the correct thread? I'm just looking for answers why the Lakers let a beast on a low contract out of L.A.? Magic was just coming in and so was LeBron- was there some kind of fit problem? I just feel like we could use a guy averaging 22 and 10 on this team and I loved his heart.

ChickenStu · Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:21 am Post subject:

We did not trade him. At least if we had traded him, we could have received something in return. He had just completed his rookie contract last summer and was a restricted free agent. We would have had the right to match any contract offer he received, or, of course, we could have just signed him to a contract ourselves, had he agreed.

Instead, we simply renounced his rights, automatically making him a free agent to sign with any other team. If you're wondering why we would do that, yeah, you'll have to get in line.

Wino · Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:45 pm Post subject:

I think at the time, our FO was afraid that signing him would take us out of play for a top FA. With his contract we would be unable to sign anyone for the max. Also, as good as he was on offense, was not great on defense so they felt like they needed to look elsewhere and that he wasn't worth the long term commitment. I know that everyone is pissed off right now and like to look back and blame everything on Magic, but Randle is not winning and he has arguably two great players playing along side of him in Davis and Jrue Holiday. People are saying he torched us last time we played them, and he did on offense, but not on defense and they lost largely because of that. I see him as a solid third option on a winning team but he needs to learn to play defense first. He probably will eventually. We will see if he ever starts winning.
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Never argue with stupid people! They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!! - Twain

unleasHell · Guest

We "traded" his salary spot for Rondo..kinda

Wino · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 10:48 am Post subject:

LuciusAllen · Star Player Joined: 24 Sep 2005 Posts: 5845

audioaxes · Franchise Player Joined: 26 Apr 2004 Posts: 12573

Randle/Mintz was already butt hurt the Lakers were not making him a #1 priority before the season was up, they were likely pushing hard for a lucrative extension which would have killed our offseason flexibility

I think the best thing to do was play hard ball with Randle on the QO and force a team to make gamble trying to steal him away from us. Let him play out this year with Lebron and see how that goes and worst case trade him at the deadline for a pick.
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Wino · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 12:54 am Post subject:

The only thing that they should have tried was to get a pick for him, not sure why they didn't do that. I wonder if even that put a risk on our flexibility??

And OK, he got a two year contract with the second year being a player option. That means that the minimum salary will be the 9 million he signed for, but if someone else offers him more, you would have to ante up. It is the same effect. His contract was too much for us, it would have kept us from pursuing other FA's.
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Never argue with stupid people! They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!! - Twain

chekmatex4 · Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:09 pm Post subject:

We traded him because (i) Lakers wanted to preserve salary cap space for 2019-20 after striking out on a second star in 2018-19 and (ii) his agent, Aaron Mintz, is an ass hat.

Lakers were in a position of strength since they held his rights but they let him go. It was a terrible decision to not even get a 2nd round pick for the rights.

autoprice · Rookie Joined: 24 Jun 2019 Posts: 17