Julius Randle Reportedly Skips Exit Interview Amid Growing Criticism

The Timberwolves' 2025-26 season had an ugly ending on Friday night at the Target Center with a 30-point loss against the Spurs. Questions are being asked about just about every player on the roster following a third straight playoff run stopped short before the NBA Finals, but the noise surrounding Julius Randle continues to stand out above the rest.

Jon Krawczynski from The Athletic published an article on Saturday about the Wolves' loss. After one of Randle's worst playoff series of his career, Krawczynski wrote that players and coaches thought his poor performance was "directly connected to his name being bandied about in trade rumors."

Timberwolves coaches and teammates believe Julius Randle poor performances by the trade deadline were directly connected to his name being bandied about in trade rumors, per @JonKrawczynski

(https://t.co/Ts8VBD8fFH) pic.twitter.com/bPqvsgC38u
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) May 16, 2026

Minnesota acquired Randle before the 2024-25 season in the Karl-Anthony Towns trade with the Knicks, which also sent Donte DiVincenzo to the Wolves, among other moves. Randle's Wolves tenure has been up-and-down. He played very well in the first two series of last postseason with 22.6 points per game against the Lakers and 25.2 points per game against the Warriors. His average plummeted to 17.4 against the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.

His scoring in the regular season increased from 18.7 points per game last season to 21.1 in 2025-26. After a decent series against Denver, he had arguably the worst playoff series of his career. He averaged just 12.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game on 34.2% shooting from the field, and 19.0% from three.

Randle signed a new three-year, $100 million contract with the Timberwolves in the offseason, and his $30.8 million cap hit made him the third-highest-paid player on the roster. His disappointing series against the Spurs culminated with just three points in Friday's Game 6 loss on 1 of 8 shooting from the field. He scored Minnesota's first two points of the game, and then he didn't make a single field goal the rest of the night.

The trade rumors from during the season have only gotten louder as Minnesota heads into what could be a pivotal offseason. The core of the Wolves' roster held exit interviews with the media on Saturday afternoon. According to Andrew Dukowitz of Zone Coverage MN, Randle was the only rotational player who didn't hit the podium on Saturday.

Julius was the only rotation guy not to do an exit interview, that’s all I can say lol
— Andrew Dukowitz (@adukeMN) May 16, 2026

There could obviously be numerous reasons why Randle didn't speak with the media on Saturday, but the optics are not great. Minnesota has plenty of decisions to make and questions to ask this offseason, and Randle's future should be near the top of the priorities.

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