Julius Randle Told a Nets Rookie They’re Going to Shock the World. Here’s Why That Matters.

Mikel Brown Jr. has been a Net for about five minutes, and already he’s getting pep talks from the veteran who just joined him in Brooklyn.

The sixth overall pick in this year’s draft says Julius Randle didn’t waste any time setting the tone for their first season together. Brown Jr. told reporters that Randle pulled him aside recently and delivered a message that sounds less like small talk and more like a mission statement.

“I was talking to Julius Randle about it the other day and he told me, ‘We’re gonna shock the world.’ That’s what we plan on doing,” Brown Jr. said. “Bringing back that winning culture, I feel like everybody in this organization is hungry to win, and we’re striving for that every single day.”

Randle’s confidence is interesting for a few reasons. He’s been traded twice in the last two years. The Knicks sent him to Minnesota in 2024 after he helped rebuild that franchise’s credibility. Then the Timberwolves flipped him to the Nets this offseason in a three-team deal. So when Randle says they’re going to shock people, it’s partly a promise and partly a reminder that he’s been counted out before.

Brooklyn is betting that Randle’s edge and experience can help a roster that mixes young talent like Brown Jr. and 2025 first-round pick Egor Demin with veterans like Michael Porter Jr., who arrived from Denver last summer. It’s not a typical rebuild. It’s more of a semi-retool with a chip on its shoulder.

Randle’s return to New York is also a full-circle moment that he didn’t really plan on. When the Knicks traded him, he admitted it stung. “When I got traded, I’m like damn, I can’t believe this got taken from me,” Randle told The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski. “It’s like, you worked so hard to build something, and it was just snatched away.”

Now he’s back in the same city but wearing different colors. The Nets aren’t expected to contend right away. The oddsmakers have them somewhere in the middle of the Eastern Conference pack. But Randle has never been one to care about outside expectations. He turned himself into an All-Star with the Knicks when nobody saw that coming either.

Brown Jr. seems to be buying in. He’s not walking into this thing thinking about a lottery pick or a slow build. He’s talking about winning immediately. And with Randle in his ear telling him it’s possible, the Nets might actually have something worth watching this season.