Timberwolves window is open. Pay Spurs 3 firsts for PG Dejounte Murray

Fortune favors the bold, and that is the direction that President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly wants to take the Minnesota Timberwolves. But there is a line dividing bold and daring from foolish and irresponsible. And that line may be smack dab in the middle of the latest asking price by the San Antonio Spurs for star guard Dejounte Murray.

Of course, the Minnesota Timberwolves were linked to trading with the San Antonio Spurs for Dejounte Murray, thanks to ESPN Insider, who speculatively created a trade scenario where the San Antonio Spurs would land Timberwolves PG D’Angelo Russell, the Timberwolves 2022 NBA Draft first-round pick (19th overall) and the Timberwolves first-round pick in 2024 (Top-3 protected).

Here is how that scenario looked on paper:

After all that, the rumored asking price? The latest reports suggest that the bidding starts at three first-round picks.

While that may appear to be a steep asking price on paper, let’s look at it this way? The Minnesota Timberwolves just burned through two, not one, first-round draft picks in the 2022 NBA Draft. The team drafted Auburn center, Walker Kessler, with the 22nd overall pick. They then drafted Duke wing, Wendell Moore.

I love the picks and will be talking about how each player, and both combined, truly fit in what the Timberwolves want to do in 2022 and into the foreseeable future. But neither player nor even combined moves the needle for the Timberwolves anywhere close to what Dejounte Murray can do.

Whether or not the Spurs would accept D’Angelo Russell as part of a direct trade package, or the Timberwolves would need to involve a third team to generate a first-round draft pick indirectly, is not going to stop this trade from happening. For that matter, would the Spurs seek one of the Timberwolves’ first-round selections from the draft as part of the compensation package?

Fortune favors the bold and punishes the foolish. Minnesota Timberwolves President Tim Connelly is bold, but he is no fool.  Stay tuned . . .