It’s only November, but Julius Randle is putting together a career season

Julius Randle is entering his second full season with the Timberwolves and is shooting well early from all spots on the court. Although the season is still quite young, he hasn’t had a sub-par game yet when it comes to scoring efficiency. That continued Saturday and the 12-year veteran is in many ways off to the best start of his career.

Julius Randle loses 30 points on Saturday

Through the Timberwolves’ first six games, they had a .500 record after Saturday’s 122-105 win over the Hornets. The defense looked shaky at times. Other times they struggled to get the ball in the hoop. The only constant early in the season was Randle’s offensive play.

Saturday was another efficient scoring night for Randle. In their 122-105 win over the Hornets, he shot 12-19 from the field, 3-6 from 3-point territory and 3-3 from the foul line on his way to 30 points. The 6-foot-1 power forward is now averaging 27.2 points this year and ranks 12th in the NBA through Saturday.

Last season, in his first with Minnesota, Randle shot 48.5% from the field, his highest mark since 2018-19. In his first six games of 2025/26, he has not scored worse than 50% in any game. His shooting splits on the season are 56.4/47.1/82.5.

This is actually the second year in a row that Randle has started the year with six straight games of over 50% shooting. In his other 59 appearances in 2024-25, Randle had no more than four appearances.

That’s a big difference at the start of the year compared to his last season with the Knicks in 2023-24. That year, he didn’t shoot 50% from the field until the team’s ninth game.

Randle is off to a career-best start

There are still 76 games left for the Wolves in the regular season. Still, Randle is off to a great start.

He is on pace for career highs in scoring average (27.2), field goal percentage (56.4), three-point percentage (47.1) and steals (1.2). Randle is a three-time All-Star and is certainly playing like someone who will be named to his fourth All-Star game in a few months.

Now the score is likely to drop once Anthony Edwards returns from his hamstring strain. Randle has averaged 29 points in the three games Ant-Man has missed.

When he turned 31 years old on November 29, many were skeptical that Randle could return to an All-Star level player, especially in the Western Conference. After six games, these skeptics have been put to rest.