Embodiments comprise a distributed join processing technique that reduces the data exchanged over the network. Embodiments first evaluate the join using a partitioned parallel join based on join tuples that represent the rows that are to be joined to produce join result tuples that represent matches between rows for the join result. Embodiments fetch, over the network, projected columns from the appropriate partitions of the tables among the nodes of the system using the record identifiers from the join result tuples. To further conserve network bandwidth, embodiments perform an additional record-identifier shuffling phase based on the respective sizes of the projected columns from the relations involved in the join operation. Specifically, the result tuples are shuffled such that transmitting projected columns from the join relation with the larger payload is avoided and the system need only exchange, over the network, projected columns from the join relation with the smaller payload.