In Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals Monday, Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle scored a game-high 21 points to help stun NBA MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.
The Frost Bank Center and its adjacent parking lots span about 65 acres of land in East San Antonio. Randle and his wife, Kendra, purchased a similarly sized plot in the Greater Dallas area last September in hopes of eventually building a family compound with several homes.
“I’ve had a lot of players that have come to me and said, ‘That’s dope. Sixty acres. That is really cool,’” Randle, 31, told Andscape in March about his 60-acre land purchase. “They aren’t making more land. That is what everybody says, especially in a place where I’m from. I’m able to do whatever I want, add more to it if I want to. I’m looking for much more.
“There is always going to be a premium on land. And the important thing for me is that I get it from understanding the area, understanding what’s developing, understanding what is coming up.”
Kendra Randle posted about the purchase for their “dream home” on her Instagram account on Jan. 13. Julius Randle said the ultimate plan is to build homes on that land for him and his wife, his mother, his mother-in-law, sister, and his three young children, Kyden, Jayce and Romi, with lots of trees. Julius is from Greater Dallas, and the Randles currently have an offseason home in McKinney, Texas.
Kendra Randle told Andscape that the Randles hope to have a development plan on their land by the end of the summer that would be completed in 2 1/2 years. Kendra also said on Instagram that it is “wishful thinking but my plan” for their children to build their own homes on the land one day.
“Initially, the thought was being able to build a house that I would want to live in when I’m done playing and have some land for my kids,” Julius Randle said. “I want to have a family compound-type thing. All our family lives in Dallas. We have everybody around each other. So, initially that was the idea, but we haven’t really done anything yet.
“So, it’s kind of just like land bank. I’m not in a rush to do anything. I kind of just want to see how the area grows. I’m actually trying to buy some more over here.”
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Julius Deion Randle was born Nov. 29, 1994, in Dallas. He and his sister, Nastassia Caldwell, were raised by their mother, Carolyn Kyles, a former basketball player at the University of Texas at Arlington. Julius Randle said it was “tough” growing up in “different places” in apartments the first 10 years of his life. By the time he was 11, however, his mother moved the family to a home in McKinney, about 30 miles north of downtown Dallas.
Randle attended Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas, before playing at the University of Kentucky, where he met his wife. Kendra Randle wrote on Instagram that she and Julius have talked and dreamed about buying a plot of land “since we met & I’m so grateful and excited to see our babies run around on this land.”
The Randles relish connecting with family and friends when home in McKinney in the offseason.
“By the time I was 11, my mom moved us out,” Randle said. “We lived way out, about 45 minutes out in McKinney, where there was nothing. It was just straight land. It was an undeveloped area. It was great. We moved into our first house. I see how the area developed. That was dope about it. …
“Luckily, I live there. I grew up there. So, I know the area and I know what’s up-and-coming. I was able to get ahead of it. And then it’s crazy because now in that area they just announced a whole 120-acre shopping center, hospital, everything. The [area] is building up.”
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Before the Randles return to their dream home plans, Julius Randle is focused on leading the Timberwolves to their third consecutive Western Conference finals and a first NBA Finals appearance.
The Timberwolves and Spurs play Game 2 in San Antonio on Wednesday (ESPN, 9:30 p.m. ET). Winning another road game in San Antonio could play a big role in giving the underdog Timberwolves command of this series. Entering the 2026 playoffs, NBA teams that won the first two games of a best-of-seven playoff series on the road have won that series 86.8% of the time (33-5), according to the NBA.
“That is kind of a tone-setter for the series, especially being a road team,” Randle said to reporters after the Game 1 win. “To come out the way we did, composed, playing good basketball, I feel like we got a lot out of it. Honestly, I feel like we can play a lot better with just our scrappiness, our heart, our hustle and just our will.”
Source: Andscape
