TRADE: KAT to NYK | Randle+ Divencenzo to MIN

[SleepingHero]

SH, re your notes on Randle --
1 Worst case scenario seems like they let him walk in 2025 and enjoy the salary savings. This deal alone essentially washes the bloated KAT salary, which was their goal. But ...
2  Why wouldn't they now try to find a taker for JR asap, by looking for a team who needs a scorer/star at a relatively accommodating price? Maybe try to get back a pick, and a useful role player piece with a smaller salary (along with some cheap discardable parts)?

Responding to your 1), the more I look at this trade, the more I see this as MIN ownership just being unable to afford this roster. This definitely feels like a major salary dump move but in a way that they got the most talent available, which you already highlighted originally.

Which leads to 2), I just don't see the market for Julius Randle. The number of teams that need a player like that and could offer something are slim. The contending teams aren't going to be thrilled spending a lot of assets for a player who is expiring. The tanking teams are all in on Cooper Flagg and Randle will win a couple of games on his own. Furthermore, he was adamant about a 4 year max extension with the Knicks that they balked on. So much like Brandon Ingram, the team that's trading for him better be ready to pay a lot of money to Randle. And him at that ~28 number he's currently on is great. Randle at almost double that number is nauseating. 

Another small thing is Randle is coming off of shoulder surgery this summer. Is he even going to look the same? I've seen Minnesota fans already say Randle will be coming off the bench, is he going to be happy about being relegated back to the bench if that's the case? 

So many wrinkles here that makes me really wonder why MIN did this trade right now. They could have ran it back for at least 1 more season and then had a mini blow up trading KAT/Gobert. Instead it feels like they panicked/settled on an ill fitting guy and potentially nuked their team chemistry.