Julius Randle Traded to Nets as Wolves Reclaim Cap Space for Dosunmu

The Minnesota Timberwolves agreed on Monday night to trade Julius Randle and the No. 28 pick in Tuesday’s NBA Draft to the Brooklyn Nets, in a three-team deal that sent center Nic Claxton to the Chicago Bulls and opened roughly $33 million in cap space for Minnesota. Hours after the deal cleared, the Timberwolves used the room to lock up guard Ayo Dosunmu on a five-year, $112 million contract, sources told ESPN. The move came on the eve of the 2026 NBA Draft, with the league’s free agency window opening later this week.

ESPN’s Shams Charania broke the framework in a post that first reported the Randle-Claxton deal, and The Associated Press confirmed the three-team terms that sent Julius Randle to Brooklyn. Chicago completed the deal by sending forward Mouhamadou “Mo” Gueye to Minnesota, per The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer. Gueye’s contract is non-guaranteed, and the Timberwolves are expected to waive him once the trade clears the league office. The cap room was the first half of a Monday-night plan the Timberwolves used hours later to re-sign Ayo Dosunmu.

What Each Team Got on Monday Night

The mechanics ran through three rosters and two draft picks, with each side taking on a different kind of asset. For the Nets, the headliner is Randle, a three-time All-Star and the leading scorer the team will carry into next season. For the Timberwolves, the headliner is the $33 million trade exception that opened when his contract moved out.

For the Bulls, the headliner is Claxton, a 27-year-old center who finished his seventh NBA season with the Nets and averaged 11.7 points and 6.9 rebounds in 69 games last season. The trade still needs league approval before it becomes official, a person with knowledge of the terms told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The table below shows the pieces each team sent and received. That approval is expected to be a formality. The framework had been in place for hours before Charania posted the news, according to The Associated Press.

Just in: Minnesota is sending Julius Randle and the No. 28 pick in the NBA Draft to the Brooklyn Nets in a three-team trade that sends Nic Claxton to the Chicago Bulls, sources tell ESPN. The Timberwolves will acquire Brooklyn’s No. 33 pick for Randle and No. 28.

Shams Charania, ESPN NBA insider, in a post on X.

The structure of the deal left each team with a clear next step. The Timberwolves needed a guard to pair with Anthony Edwards in the wake of Donte DiVincenzo’s torn right Achilles, and used the cap room to bring back Dosunmu hours later on the five-year, $112 million contract. The Nets needed a top option to pair with Michael Porter Jr., and got a 21.1-points-per-game scorer in Randle. The Bulls needed a center to fill the hole Nikola Vucevic left when they traded him to Boston in February, and got one in Claxton without giving up any draft capital.

The Cap Math That Forced Minnesota’s Hand

The trade was a salary move dressed as a basketball move. The Timberwolves, under new owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, were already deep into the league’s punitive payroll aprons before the deal. With Rudy Gobert, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, and Naz Reid on max or near-max contracts, the front office had been staring at the league’s punitive thresholds for months. The first apron is a hard cap with severe penalties for violators, and the second apron is even harsher. Randle’s $33.3 million salary would have pushed them past it.

The math got easier when his playoff performance did. Randle averaged 21.1 points in the regular season, but shot 39% from the field and 24.4% from three-point range in Minnesota’s 12 playoff games. He is owed $33.3 million next season and holds a $35.8 million player option for 2027-28. Moving his contract gave the Wolves the room to do the one thing they wanted: bring back Ayo Dosunmu.

The Ayo Dosunmu Payoff

The Wolves acquired Dosunmu from Chicago in February for four second-round picks and former lottery pick Rob Dillingham. In his first three months in Minnesota, the guard emerged as a critical rotation player on a conference contender. He averaged 15.6 points in 29.2 minutes across a 10-game playoff run, per ESPN.

His signature game came on the night starting guard Donte DiVincenzo tore his right Achilles. Dosunmu scored 43 points off the bench in a Game 4 upset of the Denver Nuggets in the first round, according to ESPN. Persistent right calf tightness then cost him Game 6 against Denver and Game 1 against San Antonio in the second round.

He came back, but went 9.4 points on 36% shooting in five games against the Spurs. Minnesota made re-signing him the offseason priority regardless. The new contract is for five years and $112 million, with a player option in the fifth season. Dosunmu’s agents, Mike Lindeman and Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management, worked with Timberwolves executives through Monday night to finalize the deal. Sources told ESPN the deal was agreed to hours after the trade framework became public. The Timberwolves had been planning the move since the February deadline, when they first identified Dosunmu as the kind of two-way guard they wanted to build around.

Why Brooklyn Took the Call

The Nets are not rebuilding. They do not own their own first-round pick next season, so the incentive to bottom out is gone. The front office also needs a top option to pair with Michael Porter Jr., and Randle is the kind of proven scorer the team is hoping can stabilize the rotation.

With Claxton’s contract moving to Chicago, the Nets are taking on roughly $10 million in additional salary, leaving room to be active elsewhere this offseason. The team also picks up the No. 28 pick in Tuesday’s draft, sliding up five spots in a deep first round by sending the No. 33 pick back to Minnesota. The framework was brokered in a series of calls between Brooklyn’s front office and Minnesota’s Tim Connelly, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

The risk is the version of Randle that disappeared in May. He shot 39% from the field and 24.4% from three-point range in the playoffs. The reward is the version that turned the New York Knicks into a playoff team between 2021 and 2024. Randle is a three-time All-Star and a former All-NBA Second Team pick. Brooklyn is betting that a change of scenery, and a more defined role next to Porter, can get him closer to that ceiling.

The Bulls Quietly Fill a Long-Open Hole

Chicago spent the second half of last season playing small, after trading Nikola Vucevic to Boston at the February deadline and leaving Jalen Smith miscast at the five. The new front office, led by executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham and new head coach Tiago Splitter, had center at the top of its offseason to-do list.

Claxton is not a perfect fit. He is 27, on a $23.3 million salary for 2026-27, and is coming off a season in which he missed the final five games with a sprained finger, according to ESPN. The contract runs through the 2027-28 season, with a $21 million salary in the final year. The Nets had made Claxton available in trade talks for weeks before the deal came together.

The cap math also worked: Chicago absorbed Claxton’s contract without losing the flexibility to make other moves this offseason, per Bleacher Nation. The Bulls held on to both their first-round picks and the No. 4 selection they will use on Tuesday. The trade was the first major move of the Bryson Graham era, and the front office telegraphed it in the days before the deal.

The move also clears the path for Tuesday’s draft. The Bulls hold the No. 4 and No. 15 picks, and the front office can now pick the best player on the board rather than reaching for a center. Caleb Wilson, Cam Boozer, and Darryn Peterson are the names most often linked to the No. 4 pick, per Bleacher Nation. Claxton’s arrival also addresses the defense: he averaged 1.1 blocks per game last season and has been one of the league’s better rim protectors since 2021-22.

The Draft Implications

The Timberwolves now pick at No. 33 on Wednesday night, the back end of the second round. By moving the No. 28 pick, they lost a slot in a deep first round but kept the flexibility to pursue a similar talent range on day two. The trade also dropped Minnesota’s 2026-27 tax bill, the kind of move the new ownership group has signaled it wants to make.

For Brooklyn, the No. 28 pick is the only asset of the trade that is fully under team control. The Nets’ draft record in 2025, when they held five first-round picks with mixed results, is something rival executives still remember. For Chicago, the trade is the first move of a new front office, and the next one will come on Thursday, when free agency opens and the Bulls have both draft picks and cap room to spend.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the 2026 NBA Draft?

The first round of the 2026 NBA Draft is on Tuesday, June 24, 2026, the day after the trade was reported. The 28th pick involved in the Randle trade will be made on Tuesday, and the 33rd pick will be made on Wednesday night during the second round.

What did the Timberwolves get back for Julius Randle?

Minnesota received the No. 33 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft from Brooklyn and forward Mouhamadou “Mo” Gueye from Chicago. Gueye’s contract is non-guaranteed, per The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer, and the Timberwolves are expected to waive him.

What are the terms of Ayo Dosunmu’s new contract with the Timberwolves?

Dosunmu intends to sign a five-year, $112 million contract to return to Minnesota, with a player option in the fifth season, sources told ESPN.

How much cap space did the trade create for the Timberwolves?

The Associated Press reports the trade created a $33 million trade exception for Minnesota, plus gave the Timberwolves the room they used to re-sign Ayo Dosunmu.

How long had Nic Claxton been with the Brooklyn Nets?

Claxton spent his entire seven-year NBA career with Brooklyn, according to The Associated Press. He averaged 11.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in 69 games in 2025-26.