Fast forward a few months, and Minnesota is headed back to the conference finals in no small part because of Randle, who continued the best stretch of basketball of his postseason -- and probably professional -- life with 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting on Wednesday as the Wolves eliminated the Warriors in five games.

Julius Randle has only been a part of the Timberwolves for a year, but he has looked the part of being the team's veteran star alongside a young Ant Edwards.

The Minnesota Timberwolves reached their second straight Western Conference Finals as they downed the Golden State Warriors 121-110 to close out a 4-1 series win.

Aaron Gordon might be the gold standard of the "struggling leading man to role player" transformation right now. After never finding his place in Orlando, he has become Mr. Nugget in Denver by giving up the on-ball portion of his offensive game,

On Monday evening, the Minnesota Timberwolves went up 3-1 in their second round series vs the Golden State Warriors with a dominant road win that was not nearly as close as the final score suggested.

That’s my guy,’ Randle said, ‘… just his trust and belief in me, the ability to adjust throughout the season.’