Minnesota Timberwolves: Biggest winners of the NBA offseason?

The way that a team is viewed heading into a new season is often dictated by what they did in the offseason. Did they lose crucial pieces to their roster and become less relevant? Or did they upgrade by adding new and exciting talent? For the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2022, the answer is clearly the latter.

When the buzzer sounded in game six of the NBA Finals in June, the offseason officially began for all 30 teams in the league. A little more than two weeks had passed from that moment when the Timberwolves sent shockwaves through the NBA landscape by trading for Rudy Gobert.

One of the most dominant defensive players in the league had been rumored to be on the move since the Utah Jazz’s disappointing playoff exit. And on July 1st, he fell into the lap of an already talented and promising young playoff team.

Other Big Deals Fell Through

To date, this remains arguably the most important development in the entire NBA this offseason. There was speculation that bigger deals were on the way for other teams, but as of now, they all appear to have fizzled out. So the question must be asked: Did the Minnesota Timberwolves end up as the biggest winners of the 2022 offseason?

For a while, we all seemed convinced that Kevin Durant was on the move. The Phoenix Suns, Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, and Boston Celtics were all rumored as potential landing spots for KD at one point or another.

But when it was announced last week that Durant would stay in Brooklyn, NBA fans breathed a collective groan as the potential biggest story of the summer died out.

Probably the other biggest name in the headlines has been Donovan Mitchell. But although there’s new rumors and fan-created trades for the Jazz star each week, there’s still nothing concrete to confirm he’ll be on the move anytime soon.

If Other Teams Stand Pat, Timberwolves Stand As Biggest Winners

It’s been circulated that several NBA teams were waiting on Kevin Durant to be traded before making additional moves of their own. So while those teams chose to essentially lock themselves into a staring contest with the Nets superstar, the Timberwolves opted to be bold and make a deal for the player they believed would elevate them.

There’s still a month left in the offseason, and more deals can still be made. But as it currently stands, no team has improved more than Minnesota since the season ended. The addition of a three-time Defensive Player of the Year to an already solid playoff roster will be hard to top.