NBA Rumors: Will Minnesota Timberwolves pursue Chris Paul?

Minnesota Timberwolves motivators

It’s pretty clear that the Minnesota Timberwolves are equally motivated to pivot from a team built to augment the strengths of power forward Karl-Anthony Towns to a team built to augment the strengths of shooting guard Anthony Edwards. The challenge for the Timberwolves right now is determining when the best moment to draw that line in the sand for a decision point.

Why the Timberwolves won’t make this deal

Similar to the Phoenix Suns’ reasons to balk, it’s tough to have the level of certainty to pull the trigger on this one. After all, the Minnesota Timberwolves witnessed a dozen or so games when this team’s projected starting five players for the 2023-24 NBA season actually played effectively together. Is that enough time to decide that it’s time to bail?

It was a risky move to trade a large package of assets for Rudy Gobert a year ago. But it’s an even worse decision to get nervous and trade him away a year later without some indomitable evidence that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was going to lead to disaster. The courage of making the trade is nothing compared to the courage of seeing it through to its natural conclusion.

Why the Timberwolves will make this deal

Did the Minnesota Timberwolves see enough in the 2022-23 NBA season to conclude that Karl-Anthony Towns playing alongside Rudy Gobert won’t work? Perhaps not, but there was plenty of evidence to compel the Timberwolves to start backing Anthony Edwards as the keystone to this team going forward.  So why would this team pull the trigger on this trade?

While neither Mike Conley Jr. nor Chris Paul is in a position to play alongside Anthony Edwards for the duration of his career, center Deandre Ayton certainly is. While Chris Paul is simply a bridge solution until the Timberwolves find a more suitable point guard, Paul is still a veteran who can run the floor, shoot from the perimeter, and defend. Best of all, the Timberwolves return some youth in small forward Josh Okoge and point guard Saban Lee to sort through as the team competes now but trains an eye on tomorrow as well.

Is it a win-win trade scenario? It gives both teams a new PG-C combination that seems to align more closely with their overall roster. In the end, this could very likely be as good as it gets.