D’Lo: When you’re hot you’re hot. When you’re not, you’re not.

How do you set the fair market value of uncertainty?

The Minnesota Timberwolves rumors that report that the team is showing interest in acquiring a new point guard, or trading away veteran D’Angelo Russell are indeed taking place. The reason that no progress is being made is the tepid interest that other NBA teams have in taking on that massive $31 million contract to finish out the 2022-23 NBA season with so much uncertainty over which version of D’Lo comes with that cost.

For the Minnesota Timberwolves, that same uncertainty brings its own set of problems. If the Timberwolves do indeed deal Russell, the team loses that placeholder for a $31 million player, and while they rid themselves of paying such a high price to sit out the final 16 minutes, they also lose the guy whose 16 points almost single-handedly won the game against the Toronto Raptors.

High tide

The Minnesota Timberwolves are indeed caught in that vicious cycle of tides. When the tide rolls in, Russell looks every bit like the type of player who can be a major contributor to an NBA team’s success. In fact, that is exactly who he can be, and has at times been, on the Timberwolves roster.

When the tide rolls out, the entire concept of D’Angelo Russell as a major contributor appears to be a mirage, or worse yet, fool’s gold. Timberwolves fans who have lost faith in D’Lo, continue to point to the numerous examples when, as the going got tough, D’Angelo Russell wilted and stepped out of the action.

If the Minnesota Timberwolves truly want to be that competitive NBA team that advances in the playoffs, they have only two options right now:

This team must commit to a path of landing a battle-tested point guard who can lead the Timberwolves in adverse conditions, regardless of who steps onto the basketball court. Or this team must figure out some way of making D’Angelo Russell into that heat-resistant type of player.