3 reasons Minnesota Timberwolves draft trades make perfect sense
By Bret Stuter
Reason II: Help the team’s greatest needs
The Minnesota Timberwolves entered the 2022 NBA Draft with the need to acquire a rim protector, improve the team’s overall defense, bolster the depth of the team’s front court, and acquire a point guard to groom for a future point in time to run the floor. Believe it or not, the team managed to address all of those needs before walking away from the draft.
But, as we all know, the team’s needs changed dramatically when the Timberwolves shipped five players and four future first-round draft picks (plus a pick swap) to the Utah Jazz to acquire Rudy Gobert. As soon as the team executed that trade, the Timberwolves created a brand new set of roster needs.
After the trade, the Timberwolves’ draft results were amplified. The team had added a future point guard to back up D’Angelo Russell down the road, a shooting guard to back up Anthony Edwards in the future, and a power forward to back up Karl-Anthony Towns in the future.
The Timberwolves managed to assemble a fairly impressive 2022-23 roster. But per Spotrac.com, four of the veterans signed to the team’s current roster are on one-year contracts. That means that the Timberwolves will be shopping to replace PG Austin Rivers, SG Bryn Forbes, PF Eric Paschall (Two-Way contract), and F A.J. Lawson (Two-Way contract).
The Timberwolves are running the roster with special attention to a two-deep player rotation and then adding additional players to the roster to round out anticipated needs and develop players to contribute in the future.