The Lakers selected one new Timberwolves player in their NBA season opener: Julius Randle.

The ex-Knick was the target of the Lakers’ offense as he was constantly hunted on defense, whether he was guarding star forward Anthony Davis or fellow starter Rui Hachimura.

Hachimura said after the game that the team strategized their offense around its defensive shortcomings.

“We were talking about Julius Randle,” Hachimura said after the game, according to The Athletic. “Sometimes he just stands there and stuff. So we were talking about, we need to use that a little bit.

Randle admitted Tuesday that he had no defensive ability.

He finished the game with 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting, nine rebounds and four assists in his Timberwolves debut.

“There were a few times (LeBron James) cut me back and stuff like that, that can’t happen,” Randle said after the game.

James’ cuts weren’t the only problem for Randle.

Davis went for 36 points and 16 rebounds in 38 minutes as the Lakers defeated the Timberwolves 110-103.

Hachimura also looked excellent, scoring 18 points after averaging 13.6 points in 2023.

Randle had the second-worst defensive rating of any starter in the game, behind Austin Reaves, according to the NBA’s on-ball defense stats.

Randle’s defense was a major question before he was shipped by the Knicks front office along with guard Donte DiVincenzo as part of the trade for center Karl-Anthony Towns.

In 2021, Randle called his defense “pretty good,” despite advanced analytics saying the opposite and that the Knicks were a better team with him off the court.

Randle and DiVincenzo will have a tall task ahead of them as they look for some defensive consistency.