The Minnesota Timberwolves traded Julius Randle to the Brooklyn Nets on Monday, and the move opens a clearer lane for Joan Beringer. Minnesota already viewed the 19-year-old as pretty much untouchable, but the frontcourt now has one less veteran in front of him.
That matters now because Beringer was taken with the 17th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and is expected to be the first big man off the bench. He has not played all that much as a rookie, but the trade gives the Timberwolves a cleaner path to use him more often without changing the basic order of the rotation.
Early in the 2025-26 season, Beringer turned 19, and the organization has treated him like a long-term piece rather than a movable one. That is why his name keeps coming up whenever the Wolves roster is discussed: he looks like the eventual answer at center, but he is still likely to stay on the bench in the 2026-27 season as long as Rudy Gobert remains.
That is the part that keeps the roster picture from being simple. Beringer can gain minutes and grow into the job, yet Gobert still blocks the full handoff for now. Minnesota is not moving from that reality just because Randle is gone, and it is not hard to see why the club wants to keep both options alive while Beringer develops.
The bigger question is what happens next offseason if that development continues. The Timberwolves could consider further changes, and those changes would likely involve Gobert, who will be 35 years old during the 2027-28 season and has a $38 million player option then. He has not shown much slowing down on defense yet, but Minnesota’s frontcourt is already being shaped around the day Beringer takes the job for good.
For now, Randle’s departure is less a finishing move than the first clean step in that shift. Beringer has a better opening, the bench role should expand, and the Timberwolves have made it plain that the center picture may not stay settled for long.
