Timberwolves Rumor: Interest in Lou Williams and Tyreke Evans?

A report surfaced on Tuesday afternoon that confirmed the Timberwolves’ interest in the Clippers’ Lou Williams and Tyreke Evans of the Grizzlies.

The Timberwolves are known to be active in current trade discussions in advance of Thursday’s deadline, but it’s fair to assume that it would be difficult for them to pull something off, given the array of hard-to-move contracts on Minnesota’s books.

On Tuesday afternoon, however, Jake Fischer at SI.com’s The Crossover confirmed what always made sense but was hard to pin down exactly: the Wolves indeed have interest in guards Lou Williams and Tyreke Evans.

Both players will be unrestricted free agents this summer, so this would be a play for a rental that would immediately step in and contribute off the bench.

Williams should be the tougher get, of course. The 31-year-old is having a career-year, shooting 43.9 percent from beyond the arc, his best percentage from 3-point range since becoming a rotation regular back in 2007-08. He’s averaging a career-best 23.3 points per game for the likely lottery-bound Clippers, and would provide an efficient scoring punch off the bench for the Wolves.

There’s no shortage of suitors for Sweet Lou, to be sure. Fischer notes that Boston and Oklahoma City have interest, and there are surely more teams that could use one of the best sixth-men in recent memory.

And that means that the Timberwolves would have to pony up. Cole Aldrich and a first-round pick is doable from a cap perspective, and the Clippers would certainly require the Oklahoma City first-rounder that the Wolves acquired from Utah in the Ricky Rubio trade in order to get something done.

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The Wolves might also ask the Clippers to take the disgruntled Shabazz Muhammad off their hands to avoid a buyout, although the new culture that Jerry West is trying to build in L.A. may not be the best fit for Bazz. For the record, Muhammad could be included in the trade and it would still work financially.

However, it would be a mild surprise if the Clippers don’t have a better offer for Williams on the table. The Wolves could offer up Gorgui Dieng in a trade to L.A. — according to Darren Wolfson (see below), the Clippers like him — but between Dieng’s contract and the Wolves losing their third big for a rental, it’s probably a no-go.

To close the books on the Williams idea, consider the fit. While he’s a better shooter, and, quite frankly, all-around player than Jamal Crawford, he wouldn’t take J-Crossover’s job. And he wouldn’t take Tyus Jones‘ spot as backup point guard; the Wolves need some defense from their back court outside of Jimmy Butler. So, where would his minutes come from? It’s a fair question to consider.

When it comes to Evans, the market appears to be a bit more crowded. The Grizzlies are simply going to hold out for the highest bidder, and while the former Rookie of the Year would add length to the Wolves bench, it isn’t clear whose minutes he would eat into.

Evans would have to almost exclusively play small forward, as he wouldn’t likely take minutes from Jones or Crawford. There would be some intriguing small-ball lineup opportunities with Evans in the fold, but he’s played some of the best basketball of his career this season in Memphis while taking on more playmaking responsibility than he’s had in recent years.

A second unit with a dominant ball-handler playing alongside dominant ball-handler Jamal Crawford could be…ugly. Of course, Evans is no Muhammad in that he is far more willing and able to share the ball, but it’s unclear how a second unit of Jones-Crawford-Evans alongside Nemanja Bjelica and Dieng would function.

My take: the Wolves’ biggest need is shooting, and Williams provides that in spades. He isn’t likely to cost much more than Evans on the trade market, either. The biggest issue is that he’s essentially a (much) more efficient Crawford, and a lineup with Williams and Crawford on the floor together is impossible to imagine.

On the other hand, the Evans fit would only make more sense from a size perspective, as it’s theoretically possible to play him with both of the Wolves’ existing backup guards. I’m just not convinced it would make the team better in the long run.

Next: What are the odds the Timberwolves make a deadline deal?

Don’t expect either of these moves to go down. But despite the potentially awkward lineup combinations, the Wolves would certainly improve their overall depth by adding either player.