NBA Rumors: Per The Athletic, Wolves may try to trade into Round 1

Even as we are getting down to the wire for the Minnesota Timberwolves and the 2023 NBA Draft, the phones are still ringing off the hook. No, it’s not a wave of NBA interest in the Minnesota Timberwolves’ lone pick of this draft, the 53rd overall. Rather, the phone calls are being made by the Minnesota Timberwolves in an effort to secure a viable path into Round 1 of the 2023 NBA Draft before the draft.

That is the assertion of The Athletics’ Jon Krawczynski, who said in a recent article entitled Intel on Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, and the possibility of Wolves trades as the NBA Draft nears (subscription required) that the Timberwolves are:

"“. . . making calls around the league to gauge the market and see if there is a chance to move back into the first round,”"

The greatest challenge for this trade scenario, and of course any NBA trade scenario, is the exchange. What do the Minnesota Timberwolves have of any value to offer in return?

What are you offering for that?

Perhaps that is where the Minnesota Timberwolves negotiations end, at the point where their intended trade partner asks the inevitable question: ‘What are you offering for that?‘

Unless the Timberwolves are putting up a current player into the trade mix, or are able to persuade an NBA team to part ways with a last pick in Round 1 of the 2023 NBA Draft for multiple future draft picks in Round 2, these negotiations will go nowhere.

Still, the Timberwolves do have some leverage.  The Minnesota Timberwolves have 10 draft picks over the next seven NBA Drafts, six of them are very tradeable second-round picks. And this team has the ability to negotiate a sign-and-trade with a number of players, including the very popular backup center Naz Reid.

That is why we urge fans to tune into the 2023 NBA Draft. Forget what you think you know about the Minnesota Timberwolves draft strategy. This could be a big splash of meh, true. But it could be an action-packed thrilling sequel to the Timberwolves’ 2022 NBA Draft and subsequent blockbuster trade. If you aren’t tuning in to the live-action, you are only going to get the recap of events on the following day.

Whether or not the Timberwolves pull off a trade, it’s worth watching to see what happens.