Minnesota Timberwolves: Evaluating 3 trade-back options with No. 1 pick

Minnesota Timberwolves: Evaluating 3 trade-back options with No. 1 pick

Wolves acquire a superstar

The Ben Simmons conversation isn’t going anywhere.

As long as the Philadelphia 76ers remain in a weird state of flux and potentially choosing to rebuild on the fly, and as long as the Minnesota Timberwolves are in search of a third star, the Simmons-to-Minnesota rumors will persist.

While ideas like the above are suddenly more mainstream, our own Eric Peterson pitched this trade possibility earlier this summer. It included both Malik Beasley and Jarrett Culver, and in reality, it would probably be one or the other as Beasley would be part of a sign-and-trade. If Culver is in the trade, Josh Okogie is likely to be part of it as well.

Here’s the thing: it’s entirely unclear why the Sixers would be so desperate to move on from Ben Simmons.

Sure, they looked disjointed in Orlando, and that’s putting it kindly. Yes, they’ve since fired their longtime head coach. And yes, they need to find a way to make Joel Embiid more of a focal point of their offense.

But Simmons is a consensus top-20 player in the league, only 24 years old, and already locked up for the next five seasons.

From the Wolves perspective, if there is any way they could land Simmons without giving up D’Angelo Russell or Karl-Anthony Towns, they’ll do it. Hands down.

In this particular deal, the Wolves give up the No. 1, No. 17, Okogie, Culver, and James Johnson to make the salaries match. If, for some reason, the Sixers are up for that deal, Rosas will make it and never look back.

The Wolves would have three players on max deals, but they’d have two top-20 players and three top-40 players in the league. In this scenario, they could possibly still keep Beasley, and they’d have Jake Layman to start at the 4. The Wolves would need to build up depth with second-round picks and veteran free agents on the cheap, similar to what Golden State has done over the past half-decade or so, but with a Big Three of Towns, Russell, and Simmons, they should be able to get that done.

All that to say, trading for Simmons certainly feels like something of a pipe dream at this point — although it’s far from impossible.