Julius Randle was a guest on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” on Tuesday, his appearance coinciding with his return to New York ahead of Wednesday night’s battle at Madison Square Garden between the Timberwolves and Knicks.
“A lot is wrong with me,” Randle said when Fallon asked him about his shark-diving experience last summer.
“I see the sharks,” Randle explained as video of the experience played for the studio audience. “This is me and my wife, we’re down there (in the cage). But then we get down there, it’s amazing. It’s peaceful.”
Randle said the late Kobe Bryant inspired him to dive with sharks.
“He was a big motivator for doing this because he used to go to South Africa and he used to dive, and swim with the great whites and stuff like that. So we used to talk about it all the time, so I was like, I want to do it eventually,” Randle explained.
Randle was only on for a little more than four minutes, and the only other topics that came up were Anthony Edwards and the return from Minnesota’s black “Trees” jerseys.
“He’s the best teammate. He’s your biggest cheerleader,” Randle said of Edwards.
“He has the charisma. He talks a lot of trash, but it’s part of the game. I like to take his money in cards on the plane, but he’s got the aura,” he added about Edwards.
Randle has been a force on the court without Edwards, who has missed the last three-plus games with a strained hamstring. While Edwards is questionable to play Wednesday against the Knicks, Randle will be in the lineup, riding a hot streak that culminated with a triple-double in Minnesota’s win over Brooklyn on Monday.
Randle is averaging 26.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.9 assists, while shooting 55.8% overall and 43.2% from three.
Wednesday’s game will be Randle’s second regular-season contest at Madison Square Garden since being traded to Minnesota, along with Donte DiVincenzo, in last year’s blockbuster trade for Karl-Anthony Towns.
Towns is averaging 20.3 points and 13.1 rebounds this season, though he’s shooting just 40.8% overall and 36.1% from three.
The Wolves and Knicks play at 6:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
