Timberwolves marriage of Gobert-Towns forced Nets and Durant to reconcile

The Minnesota Timberwolves may not be viewed in NBA circles as the movers and shakers at the level of the LA Lakers, the Boston Celtics, or the Golden State Warriors. But that type of power is not something that you claim to exert, but is something that is measured in your ability to influence the actions of others.

And the consensus is that the Minnesota Timberwolves are influencing the actions of others. In fact, the Timberwolves appear to be directing the actions of others.

We’ve mentioned this before, but the point is so dramatically surprising that it deserves to be stated once more. The Minnesota Timberwolves’ trade for All-Star center Rudy Gobert was so pricey that subsequent trades for All-Star forward Kevin Durant become, for all intents and purposes, unachievable for any NBA contender.

Accident? Or was that all part of the plan? With the number and wisdom of NBA executives assembled by the Timberwolves, I’d be shocked if that was a random chance effect of the team’s off-season choreography.

Were The Minnesota Timberwolves the beneficiaries of blind dumb luck, or was the team’s off-season strategy inspired by a larger, more potent design?  Crazy like a fox.

A move of either Brooklyn Nets All-Stars Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving would have shaken the NBA landscape on the order of a 9.0 earthquake on the Richter Scale. For those teams that had no chance of participating in the auction for either player, their interests were solidly founded in those trades not happening.

And thanks to the Minnesota Timberwolves, they didn’t.