Lonzo Ball Blames Lakers For Disrespecting Julius Randle

The Lakers were stacked with talent like Julius Randle, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and more. They gave most of them away in the trade for Anthony Davis. However, they chose not to extend Julius Randle after what now seems to have been a bitter contention between the coaching staff and the power forward. 

Lonzo Ball, who was teammates with Randle at the Lakers, has now come forward with some inside details on his role in the Lakers' relationship with Randle. He recorded his podcast where he said: 

“One of the craziest things I've ever heard in my life, when I was on that team [Lakers]. They sat us all down early in the season in the locker room, went through everybody's roles, and sh** they got to Ju[lius,] they talking about just rebound and set screens, nothing else. I'm like "What the f**k?" So then I'm like, Nah, I low-key spoke up. I'm talking about nah like he one of our best players, he only n**** that can do everything like what the f***? And then after that sh**, that's when we got cool after that. But nah, they were disrespecting him crazy in LA, bro, and now look what he's doing now. So I'm definitely uh happy to see him doing his thing.”

What Did Julius Randle Do After He Left The Lakers

The Lakers decided not to extend Julius Randle's contract, ending his four-year stint with them in 2018. After leaving the Lakers, he signed with the Pelicans. He then entered free agency and went to the Knicks in 2019. In a blockbuster trade in October 2024, Randle was then traded to the Timberwolves with Donte DiVincenzo for Karl-Anthony Towns.

Randle has currently been pivotal in the Timberwolves' run to the Western Conference Finals for the second time in consecutive seasons. Randle has averaged 21.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 14 games in the 2025 playoffs. He played well in games 1 and 3 of their Western Conference Finals (WCF) series with 28 and 24 points, respectively. However, he struggled to produce anything in games 2 and 4 with 6 and 5 points, respectively. 

Randle's contributions had so far been a boon for the Timberwolves to put away the Lakers and the Warriors in five games each. He averaged 23.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists in those 10 games. However, his inconsistency against the Thunder could cost the Timberwolves their series as they went down 1-3 after a 126-128 defeat in Game 4 of the WCF.

Were the Lakers right in giving Randle away for basically nothing except some free cap space? Or has he proven them wrong yet?