Julius Randle steamrolled most of his opponents from the first moment he picked up a basketball, but he met his match this day.
Even when playing against kids older than him, Randle would muscle his way to the basket and swat away shots with ease at a young age; but those moves weren’t working this time around.
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Instead, he was forced to watch as hook shots soared over his head and rebounds were snatched away before he could reach them.
After knocking in yet another game-winning shot, Randle’s mother, Carolyn Kyles, wrapped her arm around her son and said, “Good game, Julius. Want to go again?”
Randle was always skeptical when Kyles told him tales about her days playing at the University of Texas-Arlington, but she taught him a lesson one summer day he’d never forget.
Kyles took Randle to a gym and challenged him and one of his childhood friends to a game of 2-on-2 against her and Randle’s sister, Nastassia.
After realizing how overmatched he was, Randle’s competitive drive got the best of him and he took his frustrations out on his sister, knocking her to the ground after he blocked her shot.
Kyles knew it was time for a different type of lesson at that point.
“I took him to the side and made sure he knew it was important to control his emotions when things weren’t going his way,” she said. “He wants to win at everything he does, but there’s always something you can learn from a loss.”
She had no idea how valuable those moments would be for her son as she prepared him for the adversity that was heading his way down the road.
Just getting started
Randle played high school ball at Prestonwood Christian Academy, one of the top programs in the state of Texas, and quickly earned the respect of his peers because of his bruising style of play and exceptional skill set for a player of his size.
Chris Lovell, who currently serves as head coach of the Bossier Parish Community College men’s basketball team, spent three years as an assistant at Prestonwood while Randle was there, and it didn’t take long to realize the great potential the young forward possessed at such an early age.
Lovell vividly remembers a practice during Randle’s freshman season when one of his teammates was pushing him around a bit during practice and Lovell urged the young big man to counter by using his exceptional athleticism.
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On the next possession, Randle spun off the stronger defender and went baseline before throwing down a vicious one-handed dunk that nearly brought practice to an end after the team went into a frenzy.
Without hesitation, Lovell turned to one of the coaches next to him and said, “This guy is going to be a pro.”
“It was obvious from his freshman season that he had the potential to go to the NBA,” Lovell said. “He was the most talented player I’ve ever coached.”
During his time at Prestonwood, Lovell grew closer to Randle and watched the talented forward claim state titles by the end of his freshman and junior seasons. Lovell left before Randle’s senior year to take a job at a different school, but he knew Randle was “determined to do some damage” during his senior season before heading off to play at the next level.
Before his final year, Randle was a consensus five-star recruit and was looked at as arguably the best big man in the nation for the Class of 2013. He had a chance to attend just about any school of his choice, and every major college program was after him.
He had a special affinity for the University of Kentucky and coach John Calipari, so he was ecstatic when Calipari and one of his assistants, Kenny Payne, made the trip to Dallas to watch him play in a tournament.
During the game, Randle went up to grab a rebound like he did on so many other occasions, but it felt different when he landed this time. He tried to walk it off, but the pain wouldn’t subside.
He exited the game and headed to a hospital to figure out what the issue was. It was just as bad as he imagined: X-rays confirmed his foot was fractured and he was in jeopardy of missing the rest of his senior season.
He was devastated.
“He kind of locked himself up in his room for a few days and try to shut himself off from the world,” Kyles said. “I told him that he would get back, he just had to slowly work his way through the process.”
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Once Randle got over the initial disappointment, he worked tirelessly to get himself healthy enough for one final playoff run.
After sitting for nearly three months, he was finally cleared and got to put his Prestonwood jersey on once again for the final stretch of the season. It was a terrifying site for any of the opponents that stood in his way.
“Once he came back, he wanted to make sure he was the best player in the building every time he stepped on the floor,” Lovell said. “He’s got a special drive to him that a lot of guys don’t have.”
Prestonwood plowed through the competition and its five-star big man averaged an eye-popping 32.5 points and 22.5 rebounds during his senior year before claiming one last state title on his way out.
His mission was complete.
Now, it was time to move on to the next phase.
‘Greatness comes at a cost’
Randle was almost sure another title would be in his future once he enrolled at Kentucky as the biggest name in a star-studded recruiting class that included six McDonald’s All Americans.
It was a season he had been looking forward to since tweeting about it in 2012. At the end of the 2013-14 season, the Final Four was set to be played in his hometown of Dallas, and there would be no better way to end his college career than with a national title victory in front of his family and friends.
It was a goal he often spoke about with Payne, a coach he still considers one of his closest mentors to this day. Randle looked at Payne as someone he could trust, which wasn’t easy for him considering his lack of a father figure while growing up.
But for Randle and the rest of his Kentucky teammates, it took time to develop that same type of trust as a unit. They stumbled through the regular season and went into the 2014 NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed.
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It was a frustrating experience for Randle, who was used to carrying his teams to victory when the chips were down. But things weren’t that easy at the college level.
It was time for another life lesson. This time it was Payne offering the advice.
“I always try to tell my guys that greatness comes at a cost, and that cost is adversity,” Payne said. “It was a message I tried delivering to Julius over and over again. He would always listen, but winning is the only thing that could make him happy at that point.”
That adversity hardened the resolve of the Kentucky squad and convinced them a run to a national title was still a possibility.
The Wildcats shocked many around the country as they marched through the field and advanced to the national championship game to face the seventh-seeded University of Connecticut.
April 7, 2014 was the day Randle had been waiting years to arrive. He walked into AT&T Stadium and knew he would be living out his dream by the end of the night.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
The Wildcats and the Huskies went back and forth in a physical battle, but UConn did just enough to pull out a 60-54 victory. Randle walked off the floor in disbelief as fireworks blared and confetti rained from the rafters.
To this day, it’s still difficult for Kyles to talk about seeing her son fall short in a game that meant so much to him.
“It was really, really tough on him,” Kyles said after a long pause. “He was so close to living out something he dreamed of for so long, and it just slipped away from him. It took him some time to get over that one.”
He questioned himself the way most great athletes do after any heartbreaking loss.
Was there more I could have done? Maybe an extra few points here or a rebound there could’ve been the difference.
But he had to move on because his next great challenge was only a few months away.
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‘It’s broken!’
There aren’t many spectacles quite like Opening Night at Staples Center.
All the stars are out, the camera bulbs are flashing and some of the biggest names the NBA has to offer are usually on the court.
It was a surreal feeling for Randle when he put on his jersey and began preparing for his first game as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Los Angeles selected him with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft and Randle got to be on the same team with legendary shooting guard Kobe Bryant, one of his childhood idols.
The rookie only saw 13 minutes and 34 seconds of action in his NBA debut before the unthinkable happened.
He drove to the lane and heard a loud snap after planting his right foot on the floor. He started screaming in pain almost immediately and there wasn’t any doubt in his mind about what went wrong.
“It’s broken! It’s broken,” Randle screamed at the Lakers’ trainers as they quickly approached him to provide assistance.
Kyles was in the stands for her son’s first game and she had a haunting feeling that this injury was a serious one as soon as he went to the floor. But she prayed she was wrong.
“I kept saying, ’Julius get up. Julius get up,’” she recalled.
She eventually made her way to the locker room to check on Randle, who was understandably overcome with emotions.
After raising her son as a single mother, Kyles knew everything there was to know about him, and she knew how much he fed off her emotional state at times like this.
She felt an immeasurable amount of pain and sorrow for Randle, but she made sure to gather herself in the hallway before he could see her.
Her only goal was to make sure he kept a positive outlook, even in the midst of one of his darkest days.
“I knew this was a big deal and we were on the biggest stage of his life,” Kyles said. “The last thing I could do in that moment was allow him to see me break down and cry. I couldn’t show any weaknesses.”
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Just like he did in high school, Randle slowly worked his way back. He leaned on his unwavering faith and the people that stood behind him from the beginning. Having that type of foundation in place made the battle to recovery seem less daunting.
“Those are the times that you really get a great perspective on life,” Lovell said. “His faith allowed him to get through that injury.”
Lakers breakup
Randle eventually made a successful return to the court and managed to produce at a high level during his four seasons with the Lakers, but the two sides never seemed to be a good fit throughout his entire run.
The Lakers were one of the worst teams in the league during that stretch and often relied heavily on their young core to carry the load, which allowed them to grow but also flashed a major spotlight on some of their weaknesses.
Despite showing gradual improvement with each passing season, Randle saw his role shrink as the years went by and he was asked to accept a bench role heading into the 2017-18 season.
By the end of last season, he forced his way into the starting lineup and put together the best season of his career, averaging 18.6 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists in his final 49 games of the season.
But it still wasn’t enough.
Randle went into this summer as a restricted free agent and figured it was only a matter of time before solidifying a new deal with Los Angeles. But it never happened.
In fact, the team informed him that his role would probably be diminished even more going into the next season with four-time MVP LeBron James joining the squad.
He knew it was time to move on. But that didn’t make the reality any easier to accept.
“What he went through with the Lakers was hard for him. He wanted to play great there. He wanted to be a Laker,” Payne said. “It took a while for him to accept that things just weren’t going to work out and there was nothing he could do about it.”
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The Lakers went on to renounce Randle’s rights, allowing him to enter unrestricted free agency and freely choose his next destination.
Once he hit the open market, several teams started lining up with hopes of signing the 23-year-old to a new deal. But Randle knew this decision could be one of the most important ones he’ll make during his time in the NBA.
He was determined to make a decision that would put him in the best position possible.
That’s when the phone calls started rolling in from Anthony Davis.
Randle reached out to the New Orleans Pelicans big man first to see how he’d fit in their system, especially with DeMarcus Cousins’ free agency still pending. But Davis, a fellow former Kentucky Wildcat, knew how important it was to land a talent like Randle once he became available.
Davis called Randle three times to make sure the deal was done. After mulling it over, Randle decided that New Orleans would be his new home, agreeing to a two-year, $18 million contract.
There were more lucrative deals on the table and Randle’s contract will allow him re-enter free agency next summer if he chooses. But make no mistake, he views New Orleans as the place he wants to be long term. That’s one of the main reasons he decided to sign with them.
“For me, this is not about this season or next,” Randle said at his introductory press conference. “I want this to be home and this to be a long-term thing. I feel like this is a group where guys are young and energetic and they can grow together.”
It certainly didn’t hurt to be paired up with a player of Davis’ caliber also, and the Pelicans’ new big-man duo is expected to give opposing defenses fits come next season. Payne got to coach both of them at Kentucky and he considers them to be a “perfect fit” on and off the court.
“Julius has a lot of respect for A.D., and A.D. has a lot of respect for Julius. Both of them are really unselfish guys,” Payne said. “They are going to torture other big men around the league. I know I can’t wait to see them play together”
After years of dealing with heartbreak and disappointment, Randle is hoping that he can finally find the success he’s been searching for in New Orleans. And if it doesn’t work out, maybe it’ll become one more life lesson he can tuck under his belt.
(Top photo courtesy of Carolyn Kyles)
