A mid-season injury changed everything for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Right when they turned a corner with their retooled roster, winning 5 games in a row in mid-January, Julius Randle came up gingerly after an overextended layup early in the second quarter against the Utah Jazz.
Randle suffered a groin strain, an injury that would ultimately force him to miss the entire month of February. That created a problematic situation for the Wolves because it was near the trade deadline, and any drop in the competitive Western Conference standings could be detrimental.
How could the Timberwolves keep pace in a chaotic Western Conference standings without their second-best scoring option? And how would this overall affect the team’s synergy, which they had worked so hard to develop in the first half of the season?
It was already an uneven start to the Timberwolves’ journey as they tried to replicate their historically successful 2023-24 season, during which they won 56 games and reached the Western Conference Finals.
Randle and the Timberwolves faced adversity. However, the patience the roster, coaching staff, and front office held onto throughout the burdensome segments of the season allowed them to reach the same heights of last season’s success.
All it took was patience. Replicating success is difficult, and matching expectations is often difficult in an ever-changing NBA landscape. Still, amidst the chaos, the Timberwolves made the Western Conference Finals for a second consecutive season after defeating the Golden State Warriors in five games on Wednesday evening.
There was no internal panic with the roster after Randle went down. Younger players Terrence Shannon Jr. and Jaylen Clark filled in for Randle within the rotation, and Naz Reid saw extended time in the rotation.
Most importantly, Tim Connelly didn’t change the roster at the trade deadline. Not adding another rotational player or trading Randle amidst his contract situation with a player option at season’s end seemed like a gamble in the moment. Still, it paid dividends when Randle adjusted back into the rotation just a month later. The belief was that they could still figure it out.
No player wants to spend time away from the court, especially Randle, who was coming off a shoulder dislocation last season that forced him to miss the rest of the season. But Randle had time to settle into his new life in Minnesota and find comfort while recovering from his groin injury.
“I got some time to sit and evaluate [after] getting traded here a few days before the season,” a reflective Randle said during Minnesota’s first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers. “When I got injured, those few weeks I was able to see what the team needed.”
The talent gap in the lineup without Randle was noticeable. There were nights when the Timberwolves struggled if Anthony Edwards could not find his scoring rhythm. They needed Randle back.
Amidst his month-long absence, Randle was still able to make significant strides that ultimately helped him grow and mature alongside his new teammates. It was time that he may not have been able to find if he were to remain healthy throughout the regular season.
“That was another moment of growth for me,” Randle said after the Game 5 win against Golden State. “Even though I wasn’t playing, just being engaged, cheering for the guys, [and] encouraging. Being able to use my voice in a way that maybe I haven’t been comfortable in the past with
“Even though I wasn’t playing, I was still with the team. After I came back, my mindset was *How can I help this team win?*”
Minnesota’s 17-4 regular season record after Randle’s return from a groin injury was a testament to how well they were adjusting to his return to the lineup. So were Randle’s box-score statistics.
He finished the last 21 games with similar points, rebounds, and assists numbers, but dramatically increased his efficiency. Randle increased his field goal percentage by 5.3%, three-point percentage by 7.7%, true shooting percentage by 5.2%, and effective field goal percentage by 7%.
Anthony Edwards described Randle’s return from injury as the turning point. “When he came back from injury, it was like a whole different person,” he said. “When he came back from that Phoenix game, it was like, Oh, yeah, we might be onto something.”
It was such a dramatic change in play for Randle that even Draymond Green chimed in after Game 5. “The way he’s been playing since he came back from his injury,” Green said. “He’s been lights out. I have no doubt that he will continue to play that way.”
The most difficult part for the Timberwolves was that Randle didn’t make an immediate impact.
There were growing pains, including the Toronto Raptors game earlier in the season, where Randle and Gobert had an awkward offensive miscommunication that resulted in an offensive three-second violation.
Just obscure
I think Randle has to make that pass and he was looking his way, but Rudy just walking away and having no apparent effort to avoid the 3-second call was mind boggling. Especially in a close game. https://t.co/zr11VeyAXt pic.twitter.com/I2ezsGCYKq
— Jonah (@Huncho_Jman) November 22, 2024
They also had multiple defensive lapses between Gobert and Randle as they tried to get on the same page and match Minnesota’s defensive pedigree from a season ago.
Anthony Edwards and Randle’s struggle to play synchronized basketball rather than ‘your turn, my turn’ offense also sometimes held the team back. But they found a way.
Steph Curry missed Games 2 through 5 with a hamstring injury, which helped Minnesota advance. However, it would not have been as easy for the Timberwolves without Randle’s consistent scoring punch, quick decision-making, physicality, and comfort on the floor.
In the first two rounds of the playoffs, Randle is averaging 23.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.1 assists on 50.9/34.5/88.9 shooting splits, a 62% true shooting percentage, and a 56.5% effective field goal percentage.
He has debunked old narratives and proved that he is vital to Minnesota’s playoff success. His dominance has been paramount to the Timberwolves reaching the Western Conference Finals for a second season in a row, and continuing a golden age of Minnesota Timberwolves basketball.