Apr 24, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol (16) reacts during game two of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs at AT

The possibility that Nikola Pekovic could catch an offer as large as a $13 or $14 million starting salary this offseason and the Wolves choosing to balk at matching it (though it seems less and less likely of late) — that, combined with the news that the Timberwolves were one of many to interview Maryland center Alex Len, makes you wonder how the Wolves would feel about taking on Gasol’s expiring $19 million contract this year before he becomes an unrestricted free agent next year. Losing Pek, making a move for Pau and adding Len as a third big would be a nice backup plan — assuming Pek would fetch any kind of perimeter scoring punch in a sign-and-trade (Korver and Morrow from Atlanta?).

The availability of Derrick Williams seemed to have little impact on the Lakers before the trade deadline this year. Although he averaged a semi-respectable 12 points and 6 boards filling in for Kevin Love, he is firmly behind Love on the depth chart and now that the small forward experiment is without a doubt over, his $5 million would be better spent elsewhere and his opportunity could be in Mike D’Antoni’s smallish lineup.

With Kobe Bryant spending the majority of next season recovering from injury, the Lakers situation has changed quite a bit. They’ll be more dependent on their bigs and Steve Nash, and will be in need of opportunistic scoring. Williams could fill the same offensive black hole with anemic rebounding-role A’mare Stoudemire once did alongside Steve Nash in Phoenix.

The Wolves could throw in Luke Ridnour, Greg Stiemsma, Alexey Shved and UCLA alum Malcolm Lee and they could cut half of them or send Ridnour back up to Portland where he and Shved could fetch them Wesley Matthews.

Wait. Why don’t the Wolves just go after Wesley Matthews and keep Pek?

Apr 17, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker (9) is checked by trainer Will Sevening after he hurt his knee during the second half against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the AT

The NBA got its wish when the Utah Jazz and then the Houston Rockets wet the bed on the final day of the regular season, opening the door for the surging Lakers to leapfrog the Rockets — and the certain playoff doom of an OKC matchup — in exchange for a bout with their old old nemesis, who find themselves limping into the playoffs, the San Antonio Spurs.

Spurs probable starting lineup:

PG Tony Parker

SG Danny Green

SF Kawhi Leonard

PF Tim Duncan

C Tiago Splitter

Jettisoning Stephen Jackson just days before the playoffs began in exchange for Tracy McGrady would seem a questionable move by most clubs, but for the continuity-based Spurs it could be suicidal. Whether hyperbole or not, the Spurs are in a bit of trouble. Dealing with injuries up through the last week of the season to Parker, Leonard, Ginobili and others – they’d be in quite a bit more trouble if their MVP wasn’t lining up against an old-as-dirt sieve like Steve Nash.

Lakers probable starting lineup:

PG Steve Nash

SG Steve Blake

SF Metta World Peace

PF Pau Gasol

C Dwight Howard

The injury to Kobe Bryant seems like a fitting consequence to the league’s shameless attempts to drag the Lakers kicking and screaming into the playoffs — if only the Rockets could have finished off the Suns before losing to the Lakers, OKC would be throttling them in the first round instead of giving the Lakers a shot against a not-quite-healthy Spurs squad that was the only Western Conference qualifier to finish the final 10 games of the season under .500.

Nevertheless, the Spurs will need to get a more than solid performance from its bigs to contend with the Lakers twin towers and a return to form by Ginobili and Parker if they wish to make it a quick series. With their superior depth and coaching, I have no doubts they will.

Prediction: Spurs in 5.