From the moment that the Minnesota Timberwolves agreed to send a quintet of players, plus four draft picks, and even a first-round pick swap to the Utah Jazz for All-Star center Rudy Gobert, Minnesota Timberwolves fans have been very active on social media pleading for the Jazz to buyout the contract of Patrick Beverley.
I hate to be the guy to tell you this, but . . .
I don’t think it will happen. In fact, I’m certain that it will not. That is not hearsay, but rather a direct quote from the latest NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement:
"“Once a team trades a player, it cannot reacquire that player during the same season” – Per CBABreakdown.com"
The Utah Jazz added former Boston Celtics executive Danny Ainge, and Ainge will forever be remembered as the guy who pried Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves for a package of players and picks that amounted to very little in the grand scheme of things.
Ainge will let the market value of players build
Ainge is a savvy NBA executive who knows the value of each player that he got in return for Rudy Gobert. More importantly, he knows the inherent value of each player to other NBA teams. G Patrick Beverley is an ideal player to showcase, and then dangle for the highest bidder to NBA teams in need of one more role player on their roster.
And he can be patient and wait for that market to come knocking on his door.
The Timberwolves shipped off some valuable players. While the collective value of the group of players of PG Patrick Beverley, C Walker Kessler, SG Malik Beasley, PF Jarred Vanderbilt, and SF Leandro Bolmaro may not be enough to turn an NBA team into a playoff team, the separate parts may be far more valuable than the whole.
Did the Timberwolves get ‘fleeced’ as some have argued? I don’t think so. The Timberwolves were never going to be that team to put ‘for sale’ signs on almost every player on the roster, and the Jazz organization is very likely positioned to do exactly that. I’d like to think of this trade as a potential Win-Win. The Minnesota Timberwolves are in a much better position to win now. The Utah Jazz, through picks and players who can be traded for even more picks, is in a position to rebuild to win in the future.
But no, Patrick Beverley will not be bought out. He will not be coming back to the Minnesota Timberwolves this year.