In Julius Randle, it’s time for a reassessment of an underappreciated ex-UK star
As the Minnesota Timberwolves have vanquished LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers and (an injured) Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in the NBA playoffs to advance to the Western Conference finals, former Kentucky forward Julius Randle is having a “star moment.”
In Minnesota’s 4-1 series win against Golden State in the Western Conference semifinals, the 6-foot-9, 249-pound Randle averaged 25.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 7.4 assists.
When the Timberwolves won Game 3 102-97 in San Francisco on May 10, the 30-year-old Randle went for a triple-double — 24 points, 10 boards and 12 assists.
As Minnesota clinched the series with a 121-110 victory in Game 5 on Wednesday night in Minneapolis, Randle hit 13 of 18 shots and scored 29 points.
The ex-Cat’s play drew raves from Golden State coach Steve Kerr.
“Julius Randle was incredible. What a series,” Kerr said after Game 5. “He’s always been a really good player in this league. But I think he has taken a leap. … He was incredible the whole series. We couldn’t stop him.”
Randle was not as good in Minnesota’s five-game series win against the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference quarterfinals as he was against Golden State.
But he wasn’t far off.
Against Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Co., Randle averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists.
If top seed Oklahoma City advances to the Western Conference finals (the Thunder’s series against the Denver Nuggets is tied 3-3), it will be interesting to see if Randle’s playoffs heater can continue.
In the 7-1 Chet Holmgren and the 7-foot Isaiah Hartenstein, OKC has defensive length it can throw at Randle that neither the Lakers nor the Warriors had.
Regardless, the success Randle has already enjoyed in the 2025 NBA playoffs has been sufficient that a reevaluation of his standing in the pantheon of recent Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball standouts is appropriate.
In discussions of which players from UK’s one-and-done era deserve consideration to have their jerseys retired by the University of Kentucky, one rarely hears Randle’s name.
He deserves to be in that conversation.
Keep in mind, UK’s criteria for jersey retirement is “athletic and academic accomplishments of the individual while at Kentucky, as well as post-UK accomplishments and character.”
During his one season (2013-14) playing for Kentucky, Randle was the best player on a team that caught fire late and made a run to the NCAA Tournament championship game.
The Dallas product averaged a double-double, 15.0 points and 10.4 rebounds, for John Calipari’s 2013-14 Wildcats. Randle’s 417 rebounds that year still stand as the most in one season by a Kentucky men’s hoops freshman.
Even before this year’s heroics in the NBA playoffs, Randle had put together a meritorious pro career.
In 2020-21, Randle won the George Mikan Trophy signifying the NBA’s Most Improved Player. He was voted second-team All-NBA that season, and earned third-team All-NBA honors in 2022-23. Randle has been chosen for the NBA All-Star Game three times, in 2021, 2023 and 2024.
From the Calipari coaching era (2009 through 2024), the players with the strongest cases for jersey retirement by UK are, in order, Anthony Davis, John Wall and Tyler Ulis.
I would put Randle with Brandon Knight in the next tier in consideration to eventually have a jersey raised in their honor at Rupp Arena. Both, in my opinion, are deserving of the highest honor Kentucky Athletics can bestow.
Randle merits jersey retirement based on the combination of his performance at Kentucky and his subsequent NBA success. Knight is deserving because he was the top player (17.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists) on a UK Final Four team (2010-11) and hit two game-winning shots (Princeton, Ohio State) in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
The more interesting questions in terms of potential UK men’s basketball jersey retirements are the players who were good, not great, in their one season at Kentucky but then went on to become transcendent stars in the NBA. Does UK someday retire jerseys for players such as Devin Booker, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Maxey?
As for Randle, the boffo reviews for his playoffs performance this spring have come after what seemed a trying regular season.
Traded to Minnesota from the New York Knicks last offseason in a deal that sent another ex-Cats star, Karl-Anthony Towns, to the Big Apple, Randle did not get off to a fast start in the Twin Cities. By early in the 2024-25 NBA season, the conventional wisdom was that the Knicks had “won the trade.”
That is not being said now.
So far in the postseason, Randle has raised his scoring average (23.9) by more than five points over his regular-season average (18.7).
Putting everything together, Julius Randle deserves more acclaim in Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball lore than he has customarily been afforded.
This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 4:45 PM.
