Los Angeles Lakers power forward Julius Randle is set to enter his fourth season in the NBA which means he is eligible for a contract extension with the team. If no agreement is reached, he will become a restricted free agent next summer.
Randle has undoubtedly shown flashes of being an excellent player in the league but has lacked consistency so far in his career, especially on the defensive end.
At Lakers Media Day Randle spoke about his contract situation with the team saying it’s simply something that he and his agent will discuss with the front office.
“We’ll see. Honestly at the end of the day when it comes to that it’s just about taking care of my family, and then also me wanting to be here at the same time,” Randle said. “So that’s something my agent, as well as me, Magic, and Rob will discuss and we’ll just go from there.”
With the Lakers positioning themselves to potentially land two max contract players next summer, it is highly unlikely they would extend Randle and eat into that salary cap space. It will all come down to whether the Lakers are successful in landing the likes of LeBron James, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook.
Randle being restricted helps the Lakers if they do want to retain him next summer as they will have the ability to match an offer sheet from another team if he were to sign one. Of course, how he looks this season will go a long way in determining that.
The raw talent for Randle is there, but he will need to improve his shooting, work with his right hand, and defense. If he makes a leap it will be hard for the Lakers to let him go, but with so many variables right now is likely best for Randle to simply focus on the season in front of him.