Minnesota Timberwolves: Reevaluating the Robert Covington trade

Back in February of 2020, the Minnesota Timberwolves had an extremely busy trade deadline week. Several moves later, they’re still reaping the benefits.

In one massive, four-team trade, the Wolves sent out five players while taking back four players a pick. By drilling down on the journey of each of the individual assets, the trade becomes a clear positive for Minnesota.

Let’s focus on the larger of the two trades and examine how the Wolves have improved their roster incrementally over the past year and a half.

Reviewing what the Minnesota Timberwolves received in the Covington trade

On Feb. 5, 2020, the Wolves traded Robert Covington, Jordan Bell, Keita Bates-Diop, Shabazz Napier, and Noah Vonleh as part of a four-team deal that also included the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, and Atlanta Hawks.

Minnesota received Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Evan Turner’s expiring contract, plus the Hawks’ 2020 first-round pick.

As of today, Napier is playing Russia, Vonleh is playing in China, Bell is not on a roster and has only played in a total of eight NBA games for three different franchises, and Bates-Diop turned a two-way deal last year with San Antonio into a non-guaranteed deal with the Spurs for this season.

Covington was since traded from Houston to Portland and remains a solid player on a reasonable contract, but it’s inescapably clear that he was the only player with true trade value that was sent out by the Wolves as part of this massive trade.

The headliners in this deal for Minnesota were Beasley and Hernangomez, two players who were on the verge of restricted free agency at the time and victims of a roster crunch in Denver. The Wolves re-signed each of them in the offseason, although Hernangomez has since been flipped as part of a separate deal.

Additionally, the Wolves made sure to swap Bates-Diop for Vanderbilt as part of this deal, which didn’t receive much attention at the time. (Yours truly called it out as an underrated part of the transaction, but who’s keeping track of that sort of thing, anyway?)

Minnesota also received a first-round pick from Atlanta for their troubles as they took on Evan Turner’s contract for the remainder of the season.

Let’s track each of the assets and explore exactly what this trade has brought back to the Timberwolves over the past 17 months.