The Brooklyn Nets made one of the more interesting moves this offseason when they acquired forward Julius Randle from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a trade that sent center Nic Claxton to the Chicago Bulls. Brooklyn is likely looking to win more games next season than they did last season and head coach Jordi Fernandez recently explained how Randle is going to help the team do just that.
"Julius is an established, all-star playoff player, a player that is going to come here and show everybody else how it's done. I'm very excited to get to coach him, and for him to raise the floor," Fernandez said of Randle during a recent episode of the Nets' "The Bridge" video series. While Minnesota traded Randle away in an effort to save money, he seems excited to begin
his new chapter with Brooklyn.
"It feels great to be here, I just feel like it's just such a great opportunity. It's a city I'm already really familiar with, a situation that I'm familiar with," Randle said when he spoke to the media during the Las Vegas Summer League earlier this summer. "There's just a lot of great people here in the organization, from top to bottom, ownership all the way down. For me, it's simple: I just get to come in and be a leader."
Randle, 31, is coming another solid season for the Timberwolves in which he averaged 21.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 48.1% from the field and 31.5% from behind the three-point line. Randle now goes from playing alongside Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert to sharing the floor with forward Michael Porter Jr. and guard Egor Demin.
Fernandez is heading into his third season as head coach and while Brooklyn is still rebuilding, there are some around the league who expect Fernandez to turn his coaching acumen into wins. Fernandez has been getting the most of his players since coming to Brooklyn so the hope with Randle in the fold is that another veteran starter can turn things around for the franchise sooner rather than later.
high praise from Coach 🫡
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) August 28, 2026
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This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Jordi Fernandez discusses what Julius Randle brings to roster
