Report: Lakers aren’t interested in taking back Julius Randle from Knicks

With the dream of adding Kyrie Irving to the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2022-23 roster all but dissipated, the team is surely already looking elsewhere around the league for players that can improve the current roster.

A few players that have recently cropped up in rumors include star guard Donovan Mitchell, former Lakers guard Dennis Schroder, veteran guard Patrick Beverley and talented forward Bojan Bogdanovic.

However, Lakers fans should not expect New York Knicks forward Julius Randle to be mentioned as a possible acquisition. Jovan Buha of The Athletic discussed the Lakers’ lack of interest in their former player in a recent breakdown of the different pathways that the L.A. franchise may take from here on out.

As Lakers fans know, Randle was drafted by the Lakers in the 2014 NBA Draft with the No. 7 overall pick. He played with the team for the first four years of his NBA career.

“The Lakers aren’t interested in taking back Julius Randle from the Knicks, considering his contract (three years plus a player option on the fourth year) and less-than-ideal fit with [Anthony] Davis and [LeBron] James,” Buha wrote. “The [San Antonio] Spurs don’t have much to offer aside from absorbing [Russell] Westbrook’s contract, which is certainly beneficial for the Lakers, but not at the cost of two first-round picks.”

Learning that the Lakers are not interested in Randle should not come as that much of a shock. As a 6-foot-8 power forward, there isn’t much that Randle can do on the court that James or Davis can’t already do at a much higher level.

Right now, what the Lakers seem to need most is a fantastic addition to the backcourt and big man that can line up next to Davis.

Though the Lakers have tried to part ways with Westbrook in a trade this summer, that goal is starting to feel increasingly less likely as the 2022-23 regular season quickly approaches.

Ultimately, it really just becomes a matter of whether or not the front office thinks any of the moves available to the team would make a sizable difference in its trajectory.

Based off of this report, it seems abundantly clear that Randle is not a player the Lakers front office sees as a good fit.