Minnesota Timberwolves: 5 trades for Cole Aldrich
Cole Aldrich‘s contract has been a topic of trade conversation in July. Here are five viable options the Minnesota Timberwolves have to trade him.
As the Minnesota Timberwolves look to clear up more cap space and shore up some of their remaining holes, a Cole Aldrich trade has become a popular idea.
He appears to be the easiest remaining player to trade as Minnesota continues their roster overhaul this summer.
Aldrich is set to make $7,300,000 during the 2017-18 season and $6,956,021 in 2018-19 (most of which is non-guaranteed).
The cap figure is the biggest barrier to any trade involving the Bloomington, MN product. Not many teams have salary cap space remaining after last year’s summer spending spree.
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The limited money means limited partners for Tom Thibodeau and Scott Layden. Any trade involving Aldrich most certainly means that Minnesota will not want to bring back salary.
They will also have to give up an asset in order to convince another team to agree to the deal.
The Timberwolves don’t have many assets remaining that they will want to move. The only potential options include Nemanja Bjelica, Gorgui Dieng, Tyus Jones and the 2018 lottery-protected first round pick from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
When you combine Thibodeau’s affliction for Dieng along with the power forward’s four-year $64 million contract extension that kicks in this season, you can pretty much cross him off the list.
Bjelica makes sense for Minnesota to keep as he is only owed $4 million this year and is a restricted free agent next season. The Timberwolves need any and all cheap players they can get given their current cap situation.
Jones is another player who is on a cheap deal as he has two seasons left on his rookie contract which will see him paid less than $2.5 million each year. However, Jones probably doesn’t carry very much trade value.
That only leaves the Thunder’s first round pick. Since Minnesota still owes the Atlanta Hawks their first round pick for next year (assuming they make the playoffs), they have rightfully been reluctant to attach it to any trade as a sweetener.
However, if Minnesota is serious about trading Aldrich they should do the following: 1. Attach the pick in a trade and 2. read this article for great trade ideas.