Dunking With Wolves has been posting several potential trades over the past week, but this one may involve something that could happen sooner rather than later for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Ian Begley of ESPN has reported that the Toronto Raptors are determined to shed some of their salary cap, as stated below:
Several opposing executives say the Toronto Raptors remain motivated to shed salary via trade following the Kawhi Leonard deal earlier this week.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) July 20, 2018
This report came after the trade between the Toronto Raptors and the San Antonio Spurs who essentially exchanged DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green.
Recently FanSided’s Raptors Rapture went over the cap situation, click here to read more.
The goal for Toronto is to re-sign Kawhi Leonard next summer, and after a huge deal with Kyle Lowry the Raptors want some room to get back Kawhi and also sign some other new role players next offseason.
In order to do that, they need to shed some of their unnecessary cap space.
But why would the Minnesota Timberwolves be knocking on Toronto’s door when they are so tight in cap? The Wolves need to win ASAP if they want to keep Jimmy Butler next summer and sign him to a max extension, therefore they need to improve.
In order to win now, they need to either bring in another superstar (click here to see what superstars), or they need to simply improve at a position. In this case, the only positions that could use improvement would be the point guard or the power forward.
Taj Gibson played in all 82 games of the regular season last season for the Wolves, but the 33-year-old is still the only position that can feasibly be upgraded without dismantling the roster. Gibson is on a 1-year $14 million contract, and that rental contract can be advertised to many franchises trying to save money while still progressing as a team.
In this case, we have the Toronto Raptors and another team to add to the mix.