Los Angeles Lakers rookie Julius Randle will undergo another surgery, this one on his foot.
The hits keep coming for Los Angeles Lakers rookie Julius Randle. With his season already over thanks to broken leg, Randle will now get surgery on Tuesday for an ailment that has dogged him since high school, per the Los Angeles Times. Both team and player lose little from having the operation done now as opposed to next year, when Randle will be recovered from his broken leg.
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The Lakers selected Randle seventh overall in the 2014 NBA draft after Randle spent most of the college basketball season projected as a top three to top five pick. That drop was credited to Randle’s foot injury, which will now be addressed when Dr. David Thordarson replaces a screw in the fifth metatarsal of Randle’s right foot.
Overall, it’s fortuitous timing for Randle and the Lakers, who sit near the bottom of the league standings with little hope of escaping the basement amid a lack of overall talent. The team is clearly in the mode to acquire high draft picks to play alongside Randle in the future so it makes sense they’d do everything they could to preserve Randle for the long term while finding him a running mate.
Julius Randle was a standout freshman at the University of Kentucky basketball team. He averaged 15 points, 10 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. He helped lead the Wildcats to the National Championship, where they lost to the UConn Huskies. Randle and Kansas star Andrew Wiggins were widely rumored to be among the top two picks in the draft.
While concerns over Randle’s foot sent his stock plummeting, Wiggins was eventually the first overall pick, selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who then traded Wiggins to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Love.
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