Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 favorable Jeff Teague and Gorgui Dieng trades
By TJ Bain
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ season has started as most of us expected: full of drama. But according to Jimmy Butler after the 30 -point blowout loss to the Bucks, ‘it’s not drama, it’s business’.
Minnesota Timberwolves‘ All-Star Jimmy Butler should be traded in a matter of a few weeks and this team will lose their best player. Sadly, it sure seems as though this season was over the moment Tom Thibodeau dragged his feet when it came to trading Butler over the summer.
That’s the reality of the situation in Minnesota as of right now, but we can change that for next season. That is what’s going to happen today as we take a look into the top-three cap-friendly trade scenarios for point guard Jeff Teague and big man Gorgui Dieng.
Jeff Teague is one of those teammates that everybody wants in their locker room, it’s just unfortunate for the Timberwolves are so tight on their salary cap next season. Investing over a quarter of a billion dollars in Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins has lead to this conversation of moving Teague and/or Dieng.
Teague has a player option for next season that’s almost $20 million and it’s fair to presume that he’ll agree to that option. As for Dieng, he’s a role-playing 28-year-old center who has made a few nice runs over the years but hasn’t played consistent enough to deserve his $15, 16, and 17 million dollar seasons over the next few years (contract ends in summer of 2021).
Timberwolves are a team that is great in the inside game and in isolation. We have to spread the floor more with shooters and better defense in the interior, moves that could improve on the talents of Teague and/or Dieng may improve the Wolves’ fluidity on their roster and their cap space.
Free agency in the summer of 2019 will be key for the Timberwolves and mostly KAT. We have moved past the time of players wanting to go to a big market team, which is perfect for Minnesota. Having enough cap space to sign a big free agent or just mid-level players to surround Towns should be the first priority within the franchise.
These three trades we’ll dive into are going to set the Timberwolves up beautifully to make a serious push this upcoming free agency.
Jimmy Butler is still on the team as of now, but I tried to focus the trade deals as if he was already traded. We have some surprise trades on the list and one that I would love to see happen myself.
All trades were are contractually legal and have been through the ESPN Trade Machine.