Minnesota Timberwolves Gobert trade shut down big name NBA trades

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been accused of getting fleeced by the Utah Jazz in the trade that sent four first-round draft picks and a first-round pick-swap for All-Star NBA center Rudy Gobert. Meanwhile, others have accused the Minnesota Timberwolves of fleecing the Utah Jazz in the same pick.

Nobody agrees on who came out ahead in that trade.

But there is a consensus forming in the aftermath of that blockbuster trade. That is the consensus that the Timberwolves have reset the NBA Trade Market in terms of the value to interest teams who have their own big-name player dangling out there for a potential trade. And thanks to the Timberwolves, the new ‘asking price’ for those big names is so astronomically high that the trade talks for such players like Brooklyn Nets star forward Kevin Durant have all but evaporated.

Another big-name player rumored to be under consideration for a possible trade is Utah Jazz star, Donovan Mitchell. Of course, after Gobert fetched four first-round picks, the opening bid for Mitchell is starting at five first-round draft picks.

The Timberwolves made an early trade and in the process, reset the entire NBA market value for every player traded thereafter. Blind luck? Or did the Timberwolves have a more sinister and ulterior motive for doing so?

It’s tough to argue that the Gobert trade was the Minnesota Timberwolves over-inflating the price. The Utah Jazz possessed the only NBA center whose specs fit the Timberwolves list perfectly. But in that premium price for a perfect fit, the Timberwolves have inadvertently shut down access by other NBA teams to upgrading their own rosters via the trade route.

Was it all part of the plan? Or just a “waddy know?” by-product of aggressively pursuing improving their own roster?