Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 trades for star-level players
Minnesota Timberwolves trade targets: Domantas Sabonis
The Indiana Pacers had so, so many struggles this year, that were capped off by an awful loss to the Washington Wizards in the second-round of the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.
One of their better players, Domantas Sabonis, makes a lot of sense as someone that can in the frontcourt, providing solid scoring, rebounding, and tertiary playmaking.
If the Pacers feel as though they have to hit a mild reset button (and they might, considering that team was built to win this year), Sabonis could be one of the players that they look to deal for assets. The Timberwolves, by contrast, are likely going to be buyers with a plethora of young assets to throw Indiana’s way.
Domantas Sabonis averaged 20 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists per game this year on 54/32/73 splits – his best season by a wide margin. While Sabonis isn’t the greatest shooter, he does enough to where he can be supplemented by Karl-Anthony Towns (32-percent on 2.6 attempts per game).
Additionally, the Timberwolves would be able to utilize his elbow-playmaking skills with Edwards and Russell moving off-ball – although they would likely look to add more shooters as well.
In this deal, the Timberwolves would be giving up a lot to acquire Sabonis. Beasley and McDaniels are already proven role players, while Culver and Reid have the potential to be. The two first-round picks are not something to be taken lightly, either.
However, with a starting lineup of Russell/Edwards/Holiday/Sabonis/Towns, Minnesota should theoretically be able to make the playoffs in a loaded Western Conference. Yeah, the bench would need to be upgraded, but Rubio/Nowell/Okogie/Juancho is at the very least, a start.