MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Julius Randle had 24 points and nine rebounds to lead Minnesota past the Sacramento Kings 117-103 on Sunday night in the Timberwolves' second straight game without star Anthony Edwards.
Jaden McDaniels scored 21 points and Naz Reid added 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Timberwolves (17-9). They have won seven of eight and exacted a measure of revenge for their 117-112 overtime loss at Sacramento on Nov. 24 when they blew a 10-point lead with less than three minutes left in regulation.
Click to Gallery
Sacramento Kings guard Russell Westbrook, left, looks to shoot as Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte Divincenzo (0) defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Rob Dillingham, center, trips as he drives toward the basket while Sacramento Kings center Maxime Raynaud, left, and guard Malik Monk (0) defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle, right, goes up for a shot as Sacramento Kings guard Demar Derozan, middle, defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels, front right, controls the ball as Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray, left, defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Donte DiVincenzo had 18 points, six assists and four steals and Bones Hyland pitched in 18 points in his second straight start for Edwards, the guard sidelined by soreness in his right foot. Point guard Mike Conley also was out with an Achilles injury. Rudy Gobert, who had 12 rebounds in 20 minutes, left in the third quarter because of what the team announced as personal reasons.
DeMar DeRozan, Dennis Schroder and Precious Achiuwa each had 17 points for the Kings (6-20). They have lost 15 of their last 18 and have their worst winning percentage since the 2008-09 season when they finished 17-65.
Schroder returned to action from a hip injury, but leading scorer Zach LaVine injured his ankle in the second quarter and didn't return.
The Timberwolves are 14-1 against teams currently with losing records, with that late collapse against the Kings their only such loss. They won the season series 3-1, having already faced the Kings four times in 26 games in quite the scheduling quirk.
The Kings, highlighted by a career-high five blocks by Keegan Murray, kept the Wolves out of sync with active defense in the first half. They were devasted by two long scoreless stretches, a 14-0 run by the Wolves into the second quarter and a 15-0 surge in the third quarter.
Kings: At Portland on Thursday night.
Timberwolves: Host Memphis on Wednesday night.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Sacramento Kings guard Russell Westbrook, left, looks to shoot as Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte Divincenzo (0) defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Rob Dillingham, center, trips as he drives toward the basket while Sacramento Kings center Maxime Raynaud, left, and guard Malik Monk (0) defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle, right, goes up for a shot as Sacramento Kings guard Demar Derozan, middle, defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels, front right, controls the ball as Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray, left, defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that “someone from within” the Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power once the U.S.-Israel military campaign is completed — but said “most of the people we had in mind are dead.”
The president, who four days ago had emphatically called on Iranians to “take over your government” once the U.S.-Israel bombardment ends, appeared to drift further away from the idea that the war presents an opportunity to end the theocratic rule that has been in place since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.
Trump said that many Iranian officials his administration had viewed as potential new leaders for the country had been killed in the U.S.-Israeli campaign that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and many other top officials.
Trump has not publicly identified anyone whom he views as a credible future leader for Iran. And it’s unclear what, if any, outreach the White House had with Iranian officials since the war started.
“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” he said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. “Now we have another group, they may be dead also, based on reports. So you have a third wave coming. Pretty soon we’re not going to know anybody.”
Trump said Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince of Iran’s last shah who is trying to position himself for a return should Iran’s Shiite theocracy fall, is not someone that his administration has considered in depth to take over leadership in Iran.
“It would seem to me that somebody from within maybe would be more appropriate,” Trump said, adding that it may make sense for “somebody that’s there, that’s currently popular, if there is such a person” to emerge from the power vacuum.
Trump's comments came as he hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for his first in-person engagement with a foreign leader since the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran.
Trump said he wanted to avoid a “worst case” scenario where “somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person.”
“That could happen. We don’t want that to happen,” Trump added. “You go through this, and then in five years you realize you put somebody in who was no better.”
The White House has stepped up its push to counter criticism that it moved unnecessarily quickly to launch a war of choice against Iran.
Trump’s decision to strike last week followed lengthy negotiations by the president’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner with the Iranians — talks the U.S. increasingly viewed as an effort to stall any progress.
After the most recent round of discussions in Geneva, Switzerland, last week, Witkoff and Kushner told Trump that reaching a nuclear agreement similar to one that former President Barack Obama struck in 2015 was possible, according to a senior administration official.
The official, who briefed journalists on condition of anonymity, described it as a potential “Obama-plus deal” and Witkoff and Kushner believed such an agreement would take months, but was possible.
Still, even as they expressed their willingness to pursue diplomacy and “fight for every point that we can” if that’s what Trump wanted, the negotiators stressed to the president that the Iranians were not willing to make a deal that would be satisfactory to the U.S.
Meanwhile, Trump sharply criticized Britain and Spain for their reluctance to aid the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” Trump fumed about British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer had initially blocked American planes from using British bases for the attacks on Iran that started on Saturday. He later agreed to let the United States use bases in England and on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to strike Iran’s ballistic missiles and their storage sites, but not to hit other targets.
Trump also said he was going to "cut off all trade with Spain,” the day after Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said his country would not allow the U.S. to use jointly operated bases in southern Spain in any strikes not covered by the United Nations’ charter.
The president also sought to push back on criticism from some of his staunchest allies over the decision to go to war — questions that grew louder after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that the U.S. had decided to strike because “we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action.”
“And we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio said.
But Trump rejected the notion that the White House had been dragged into the conflict by Israel. “We were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack,” Trump said. “If anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand.”
Merz said during his visit with Trump at the Oval Office that Germany is “looking forward to the day after” the Iran war is over.
He said Berlin wants to work with the U.S. on a strategy for when the current Iranian government no longer exists.
“We are having a high interest in common approach and common work and what we can do,” Merz said. “And this is this is important not just for the Americans,” he said. “This is extremely important for Europe and extremely important for Israel and their security.”
Merz also noted surging oil prices were damaging the world economy, laying down an argument for finding a quick endgame to the conflict.
The president acknowledged that oil and gas prices were going to rise as the U.S. remains engaged in the strikes — yet argued it would be fleeting.
“We have a little high oil prices for a little while, but as soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop, I believe, lower than even before,” Trump said.
The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. jumped 11 cents overnight Tuesday to about $3.11 in the United States, according to the AAA.
AP writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Fatima Hussein and Michelle L. Price in Washington, and Jill Lawless in London contributed reporting.
President Donald Trump meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump, right, talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
