Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle has experienced a plethora of peaks and valleys throughout his NBA career. The three-time All-Star recently opened up about his final season with the New York Knicks.
Randle told Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic that his final season in New York was a truly stressful time. After he injured his shoulder during the middle of the season, the Kentucky product felt as though the team had moved on without him.
“The isolation and the narrative took him to a dark place. He self-medicated with marijuana (the league stopped testing players for marijuana use in 2023),” Krawczynski wrote. “He withdrew from those around him. Depression, anger and anxiety started to suffocate him.”
“At the end of that time, I was kind of at my darkest moment,” he said. “Just miserable, like in a way where I just was not having fun going to work every single day.”
The Knicks reached the Eastern Conference semifinals without Randle during that 2024 run, and traded him to the Timberwolves before the start of last season.
A new situation and a willingness to adapt seemed to fuel Randle. The 30-year-old enjoyed a successful first season in Minnesota. He averaged 18.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 4.7 assists across 69 contests and was a major part of the Timberwolves’ run to the Western Conference finals.
He has taken on a unique role and has enjoyed being able to contribute to a winning effort without feeling as though he is under a microscope. Randle inked a new three-year, $100 million deal with the franchise this summer and has seemingly found a new home for the foreseeable future.
“When I’m here, I feel like I don’t have to be perfect every single day,” Randle said. “And that just allows me to have that easiness and be comfortable to be like, all right, I’m not perfect every single day, but I’m trying my best. And people aren’t judging me just because you have one bad moment or two bad moments.”
