Today Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak announced the team has decided to exercise their team option for the 2016-17 season, on power forward Julius Randle.
Randle was selected 7th overall in the 2014 NBA draft. Randle only appeared in one game in his short lived NBA rookie season. Randle appeared against the Houston Rockets, scored two points and then the power forward suffered a fractured tibia in his right leg. The injury kept him out of the rest of his rookie season.
Lakers Exercise Team Option on Julius Randle
Randle, who was drafted out of the University of Kentucky, will start his second NBA season on October 29th when the Lakers tip-off against the Minnesota Timberwolves. And the young power forward is showing good form going into the new NBA season. Randle has averaged 12.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game, in the five preseason games he has played in.
I believe that the Lakers will have a better season than they did in 2014-15, but things will still be difficult for the young team. One of the team’s biggest hopes for the new season is that young Julius Randle will show the potential I believe the young power forward has. That for me is progress, and for a bad team like the Lakers, that’s all the fans and the team can really hope for.
Things will get better down the road though, as the Lakers have just $23.1 million in committed salaries for 2016-17. Including a $1.2-million charge for future restricted free agent Jordan Clarkson, the Lakers project to have up to $62 million in cap space to spend on free agency next summer.
Main Photo Credit: Getty Images Sport
