Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 NBA Draft trades with the Charlotte Hornets

Trade No. 3: Timberwolves acquire a 2021 first-round pick from the Hornets

This trade involves a pick swap in this year’s draft along with Charlotte sending their 2021 first-round pick to Minnesota.

For the Timberwolves, this trade would be an investment in next year’s draft, which by most accounts is a much stronger draft class.

ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported that the Warriors reportedly value their 2021 Wolves pick more than their current No. 2 pick in this year’s draft.

https://twitter.com/NBCSWarriors/status/1326002919393595394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

However, the Wolves may be lacking interest in the draft next year for a number of reasons.

First, the Wolves already traded their 2021 first-round pick to Golden State in the D’Angelo Russell trade. Second, time is ticking on the Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell era, and a team entering a win-now phase probably isn’t super interested in investing in the draft beyond this year.

For Charlotte, this would be another sacrifice for James Wiseman, who is a high-risk prospect. As previously mentioned, next year’s draft class is expected to be better than this year’s class.

However, if Charlotte believes that the addition of Wiseman to their core of Devonte’ Graham, PJ Washington, Miles Bridges, and Terry Rozier can carry the team to playoff contention, they may bet on themselves to perform well this coming season, which would decrease the value of their pick in 2021.

Ultimately, if Charlotte wants to move up to Minnesota’s pick in the draft this year, they are going to have to take a significant risk, whether it’s giving up a promising young player for their favorite prospect or giving up future draft capital to help their team win now.

However, sacrifices and calculated risks are necessary for improvement in the NBA, and the Minnesota’s first-overall pick is a chance for both teams to take a risk for improvement in the long run.