Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle’s tale of being 11 and flying private on a billionaire’s jet as part of their AAU team has resurfaced, highlighting the lengths some will go to for youth sports.
‘Shoutout to the Troutt Family’: Randle Relives His AAU Days in Texas
Youth sports, particularly basketball, are being examined after a recent article about team valuation in The New York Times. This has now set the stage for the resurfacing of a wild tale told by Randle, in which he shared about how he was flying with his AAU team on a billionaire’s private jet to games at the age of 11.
Julius Randle played on a AAU team that flew private to every game pic.twitter.com/wOcP8s3kTX
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) November 13, 2024
Randle opened up about his experience growing up in the Dallas, Texas, area in an interview on the Pardon My Take podcast hosted by Big Cat and PFT Commenter last November. “I read a story, when you were playing AAU, I don’t know if you were 11 or 12, that your team was so good you were on a private jet,” Randle was asked.
“I don’t know if it was because we were so good,” Randle began with a laugh, “but yeah, we did. That was the first time I played my grade, though. Basically, how the story was, is like I played up until this team called the Texas Titans started. Shoutout to the Troutt family… the dad, he was starting a team for his son; dad was a billionaire starting a team for his son.”
The Texas Titans were an AAU team founded by Ken Troutt, who founded Excel Communications. The team became famous for the billionaire’s investments in it, which made them the focal point of a Forbes article in 2013. “The Titans function just like an NBA team,” said former San Antonio Spurs point guard Avery Johnson at the time. His son also played for the Titans.
Randle continued, “That was a billionaire starting the team for his son…he had two sons, one was my age…you know, people who were on the team, we were flying the Mavericks plane.” He then reflected on how much Troutt’s investment meant to him and his family.
“The biggest thing in AAU is you have to pay for everything,” he said. “So my mom, being a single parent, I used to watch her struggle… and he took care of everything. Obviously, we were flying private, but hotels, parents, and everything else were there. So it was like I’m dominating my age group, and I’m flying everywhere; it was the craziest experience of my life.”
Randle is coming off a strong season with Minnesota, averaging 18.7 points with a little over seven rebounds over 69 games after being traded to the team with Donte DiVincenzo from the New York Knicks for center Karl-Anthony Towns last offseason. The 30-year-old paired well with guard Anthony Edwards, making the Western Conference Finals before losing to the eventual NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
