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Minnesota Timberwolves: James Harden should be a blockbuster trade target

By Phil Ford

James Harden of the Houston Rockets could be a blockbuster trade target for the Minnesota Timberwolves. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
James Harden of the Houston Rockets could be a blockbuster trade target for the Minnesota Timberwolves. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Minnesota Timberwolves, Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers is not coming to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a trade. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

Blockbuster trade targets for the Timberwolves: It doesn’t make sense

Kawhi Leonard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jimmy Butler, Damian Lillard, Nikola Jokic

Kawhi Leonard finally blitzed his way to Los Angeles last season after winning a championship on a one-year rental with the Toronto Raptors. Leonard has seemingly spent the better part of the last three seasons trying to orchestrate his way to L.A. and has a year left on his contract with a player option for the 2021-22 season.

If he gets traded to Minnesota there’s no way he’s opting in, the Wolves would know going in that he’s a one-year rental. Leonard, Russell, and the rest of the Wolves’ roster is not likely to compete for a title, so the deal would make little sense for the Timberwolves front office.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is arguably the best player in the league but has flamed out early in the playoffs the last two years. He’s on the last year of his contract so the Wolves would have to weigh the pros of having the best player in the league for one year against the cons of losing control of a top-25 player and top pick for the next four years.

The Bucks would also need to throw in another contract to make the money work. It would be interesting, but it’s like fitting a square peg in a round hole.

Everyone knows why a trade for Jimmy Butler would never happen, even if it all should be water under the bridge at this point.

With Lillard, almost everything work — except the fit on a Towns-less roster. Pairing him with Towns is the dream, but getting rid of Towns to pair Lillard with Russell, who is basically Lillard-light, just doesn’t make a ton of sense for the future of the franchise.

Jokic likely isn’t going anywhere. He’s the second-best center in the league (if you count Anthony Davis as a center) and the Nuggets are in win-now mode after their run to the Western Conference Finals this season.

Towns would be a slight downgrade from Jokic and the top pick wouldn’t fit the win-now timeline.

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