The three newest Minnesota Timberwolves made their first public appearance in the Twin Cities Thursday after a robust weekend of trading that saw Karl-Anthony Towns get shipped off to the Knicks, with Keita Bates-Diop, Donte DiVincenzo, and Julius Randle all coming to the Wolves.
Randle, a three-time All Star and two-time All-NBA player, says there's an initial shock when trades are announced.
"And I woke up the next morning, I was just really, really excited," Randle said Thursday after being introduced to local media. "It was a breath of fresh air. I'm excited to bring everything that I learned here over the past five years and, you know, help these guys out. My only thing here is I just wanna help, I wanna help and I wanna help Rudy, Naz, all those guy. I wanna help win a championship so that's the only thing that matters."
Randle is now reuunited with Timberwolves Head Coach Chris Finch, who he played for in New Orleans in 2018-19 before he signed as a free-agent in New York.
"Always felt like super prepared for the games, knowing what was gonna happen, where I was gonna get my shots from, what he needed from me," Randle explained. "I just felt like he just opened up my game and I became a really versatile player. I always say, like playing there and even still to this point, that was the easiest my game ever felt playing, under Finch."
As for Julius Randle, while the shock of being traded may still be lingering, he's sharing some sound advice given to him.
"My wife is actually saying that it could be a lot worse. That's for sure. I'm not going to throw any shots out here but it could be worse," he laughed.
Randle actually referred to Finch as a "genius" Thursday.
DiVincenzo averaged a career-high 15.5 points last season, his only one with the Knicks, and his career-best 283 3-pointers made were third in the NBA and set a single-season franchise record. For the Timberwolves, DiVincenzo was the vital part of the deal for added depth on the wing.
“Last year my role continued to grow and I just took full advantage of the opportunity," DiVencenzo said. "Whatever the season may bring, my confidence is at an all-time high.”
DiVincenzo says he knew the Wolves were interested in him for awhile.
"It's a good feeling, when you know that the team that traded for you was a team you were looking at last summer, when you look at the big picture," he said.
Also reuniting are the Wolves and Keita Bates-Diop who was a 2018 second round draft pick for the team.
"It feels a little bit different obviously, Bates-Diop says. "We've been winning a little bit more than the last time I was here. But there's a winning culture, there's a goal in mind and I'm happy to be a part of it."
Towns arrived in Minnesota as the No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft and leaves what appears to be a team on the rise. The Timberwolves reached the Western Conference finals last season, even though Towns was limited by injuries to 62 games.
Towns posted farewell message on social media Wednesday after the trade became officially approved by the NBA expressing his gratitude for the nine years he's had in Minnesota, and sharing some of the highlights of his career.
Towns said he arrived here as a young man with a dream, and stuck around until it felt like home. He went on to express a special thanks to his teammates, coaches, and the entire organization saying he'll cherish the friendships he's made and to the fans who he said have meant the world to him, "giving him strength on and off the court."
Randle was the NBA’s Most Improved Player in 2021, when he led the Knicks to their first playoff berth since 2013, and the Knicks went to the postseason in three of his five seasons in New York after being one of the league’s worst teams before he arrived. The Knicks reached the Eastern Conference semifinals the last two years, though Randle missed the postseason last season after surgery for a dislocated shoulder.
“Julius played a major role in establishing the foundation and culture of our team and we cannot thank Julius enough for what he did for this city and organization both on and off the court,” Knicks President Leon Rose said.
Finch said the club was not financially motivated to move Towns’ contract, even if they were on track to pass the second apron of the luxury tax.
“Our ownership was and is committed to paying large amounts of tax for this team to be highly competitive. That hasn’t changed,” Finch said. “This deal in totality checks a lot of boxes. We think it’s a great basketball trade. We think it makes us deeper in a lot of ways and in ways that we needed. It does give us flexibility and mechanisms to keep remaking the team going forward. That, more than anything, that whole package there was the reasons for the deal. But it doesn’t change either our expectations coming into the season. We still have a very, very talented roster, the same core as last year and we’ve got two great weapons to add to that.”
Minnesota tips-off their preseason schedule Friday against the Lakers.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.