Minnesota Timberwolves: A trade with each team in the bottom 8

Minnesota Timberwolves: Trade with Golden State Warriors

7. Golden State Warriors

Get ready for a dual-scenario trade.

One trade is a scenario in which the Wolves secure a higher pick than the Warriors in the 2020 draft lottery, and one trade for a scenario in which the Warriors secure a higher pick than the Wolves.

This dual-scenario trade would come into play if the Warriors and Wolves each decide they want different players than each other in the draft.

For example, the Warriors may decide they want James Wiseman and the Wolves may decide they want LaMelo Ball. These trades reflect a desire of each team to swap picks with the other in the 2020 NBA Draft.

Minnesota’s 2020 pick is better than the Golden State’s, MIN trades down

Minnesota’s 2020 pick is worse than Golden State’s, MIN trades up

The Warriors have a unique cap situation that makes trades involving current players very difficult to execute, particularly for a team like the Wolves. They are essentially landlocked by the large contracts of Stephan Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins.

Therefore, the most likely trade scenario with the Timberwolves would be a trade involving a pick-swap in the 2020 draft. These trades would only happen if both teams are fixated on one player in the draft, which is not an impossible scenario.

In the first trade, the Wolves would acquire Marquese Chriss, who performed well in the 2019-20 season for the Warriors. Chriss averaged 9.5 points and 4.9 rebounds for Golden State, andthe Wolves would undoubtedly like the idea of adding depth to their frontcourt.

he second trade involves the Wolves sending a future second-rounder to Golden State in order to move up.

While these trades would make sense for both teams if they each have a specific draft target in mind, there are many scenarios in which these trades would not happen. First, each team may not be willing to risk moving down in the draft and potentially missing out on the player they want to draft.

Second, these teams may be more interested in trading their pick for players rather than to move up or down in the draft, as the market for a top-five pick will surely be worth listening to for both Minnesota and Golden State’s front offices.

In conclusion, let’s acknowledge that some of these trades may be a bit of a stretch. That said, there is no doubt that some NBA front offices will have extra time to explore trades due to missing out on Orlando, and there is no doubt that teams left out of the season reboot will consider any avenue possible to improve their position next year.

Besides, the exercise was to try and come up with trades with each of the non-Orlando teams, so here we are.

Certainly, it will be interesting to see how the bottom-eight teams’ respective offseason approaches differ from teams who are extensively involved in the Orlando bubble.