3 Minnesota Timberwolves players who should be traded

Player 1

The Minnesota Timberwolves are in need of point guard help, as their current starter – D’Angelo Russell – is getting paid about twice what he is delivering to the team in the way of on-court production.   While he has grown up quite a bit in his NBA career, his apex happened on the Brooklyn Nets between 2018-2020.

Since he has arrived on the Timberwolves roster, he has slowly regressed. From scoring 21.7 points per game in 2019-20 with the T-Wolves down to 18.7 points per game in 2021-22. That’s not going to cut it for a team with aspirations.

Oh, to emphasize the point, Russell was held to 12.0 points per game in the playoffs against the Memphis Grizzlies. Yikes! He still has value, and as the video below indicates, he could be used as part of a three-team package deal to pry Portland Trail Blazer point guard Damian Lillard away.

When a player gets the biggest paycheck on a team’s roster, the logical expectation is that they will prove to be the team leader. And more importantly, they have to prove that they can stand up to the more intense competition in the NBA Playoffs.

D’Angelo Russell wilts in the post-season. Against the Grizzles, he shot a pathetic 29.3 percent from the floor. When you are shooting that poorly, you give the opponents an easy route to defend because they can rotate bodies to the hot-handed shooters. Now keep in mind that D’Angelo Russell is making over $30 million to fade away for the Timberwolves.

Three players who could be, and should be, traded to make room for better fits on this Timberwolves roster. Will it happen? Stay tuned. The Timberwolves are going to be very exciting this off-season.