Minnesota Timberwolves: Pros and cons to making a deal at the NBA Trade Deadline

Minnesota Timberwolves: Cons to making a deal at the NBA Trade Deadline

There are certainly land mines in the trade landscape. Here’s what the Wolves need to be careful not to do this week.

Con No. 1: Timberwolves must avoid overpaying for the right to overpay

John Collins is a great player and would be a fantastic, near-perfect fit alongside Karl-Anthony Towns, hopefully for years to come.

But he’s probably not worth the max contract that he is reportedly seeking, and the opportunity cost to acquire him won’t be cheap, either.

This news early this week is that the Atlanta Hawks asked the Wolves for both Beasley and a first-round pick in exchange for Collins. Now, if Collins was already on a similar deal to Beasley, call it four years at $15 to $20 million per year, this is a trade that the Wolves would need to consider seriously.

The problem, however, is that Collins already rejected a $90 million deal. He’s in the final year of his rookie-scale deal, and the Wolves would not only have to take back plenty of salary in order to match Beasley’s outgoing deal, but they’d also need to complete some salary-cap gymnastics to avoid the luxury tax moving forward once signing Collins to an extension.

That said, if the Wolves could pull off a deal with, say, Culver and a first-round pick and a third-team getting involved, it becomes a no-brainer. It’s highly, highly unlikely, however, as the Hawks have clearly set their price and have plenty of suitors.

The Wolves must avoid giving up one of their best players and future cap flexibility all in one fell swoop.

Con No. 2: Timberwolves shouldn’t make a move just to make a move

We’re all tired of hearing this, but we probably can’t say it enough: the Wolves have only seen D’Angelo Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns play five total games together.

Frankly, Minnesota doesn’t really know what they have, other than having a pretty good idea where the roster needs to be improved. But, at least in theory, a four-man lineup of Russell, Beasley, Edwards, and Towns should be nearly impossible to stop on offense.

Defense remains a question mark, of course, but there’s hope for Edwards there and there’s generally been some slight progress as a team. There were positive strides from Towns on that end of the floor early this season, but the post-injury, post-COVID Towns of February and March hasn’t been quite as on-point defensively.

At any rate, unless a potential move is a clear upgrade on the current roster, there’s a case to be made that Rosas hasn’t actually seen the team that he’s assembled to this point in its full form, and another splashy move could wait.

At least until summer, that is. Then, all bets are off.