Julius Randle's future was doomed likely from the start, despite having his best season yet in 2017-18, going from a third-string power forward to leapfrogging the likes of Larry Nance Jr. and Kyle Kuzma for the power forward starting spot. Yet the Los Angeles Lakers failed to even make him an offer as a restricted free agent, causing the Texas native to request the Lakers renounce his rights to accelerate the process of signing with a new team.

Lakers head coach Luke Walton had seen the progress Randle had made at both ends of the court, a commendable one, and even if he had every intent to retain him, the front office didn't listen.

Per ESPN's Dave McMenamin:

Even though the Lakers controlled Randle’s rights as a restricted free agent, L.A. never made an offer to him, sources told ESPN. This despite coach Luke Walton and his staff’s preference to keep Randle, as earlier reported by The Athletic and confirmed by ESPN.

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Randle was willing to stay in Los Angeles if he was given a decent offer, but the front office was already looking past Randle, hoping to sign a star player to play alongside LeBron James.

That star never came, and Randle went on to become a 20-plus-point scorer with the New Orleans Pelicans, soon receiving calls from Anthony Davis upon hearing of his situation.

Instead of keeping Randle, the Lakers signed a series of misfits — ranging from another non-shooting point guard in Rajon Rondo to Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley and JaVale McGee — a combination that has given the coaching staff nothing but headaches due to a poor roster construction, which James couldn't help but be exasperated with.