NBA News Roundup, Monday, June 17th: Kyrie Irving to the Lakers remains a possibility, Julius Randle could leave Pelicans and more

Julius Randle to decline $9 million option with Pelicans

After opting out of the final year of his deal, Julius Randle's future in New Orleans is in serious doubt

After joining the New Orleans Pelicans from the Los Angeles Lakers last summer, Julius Randle was among the team's top performers. The 24-year-old averaged a career-high 21.4 points per game, while also averaging 8.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. However, Shams Charania of The Athletic is reporting that Randle will enter free agency later this month:

Pelicans‘ Julius Randle is not picking up his $9M player option for next season and will enter unrestricted free agency, league sources tell the Athletic. Randle is coming off his best NBA season (21.4 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 34.4 percent from 3-point range on 195 attempts).

Randle is likely to attract interest around the NBA, although the Pelicans will be hopeful of negotiating a long-term deal for such a key performer.