Grade the Trade: Wolves land Lillard in smashing 3-team pitch

The Minnesota Timberwolves are no strangers to the trade market. Team President Tim Connelly took the job last year and soon after made an absolute blockbuster deal, trading for Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert. Six months later, D’Angelo Russell was on his way out and Mike Conley came in as his replacement.

Could the Timberwolves be looking for another trade? Without question. Connelly is the kind of executive who is always searching for ways to improve his team. Sometimes those deals don’t work out and you end up mortgaging your entire future for an aging center, but Connelly shows no signs of slowing down just because he loses a trade.

Could the Timberwolves be a part of a Damian Lillard trade?

One player the Timberwolves have been linked to is Portland Trail Blazers superstar point guard Damian Lillard, who requested a trade this past weekend. Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report mentioned the Wolves as a team that had “reached out” about Lillard:

There is no construction for Lillard that has a shot at getting off the ground that doesn’t include Karl-Anthony Towns. Rudy Gobert’s value is at an all-time low, and Minnesota can’t realistically get to a matching salary without including Gobert or Towns.

It just so happens that the Wolves are shopping Towns anyway, and there are pathways to a Towns deal that don’t include Lillard. But if they did bring the two goals — upgrading at point guard and moving Towns — there is the potential for a blockbuster deal.

Portland might value Towns enough for the two teams to build a deal based on Towns and Lillard alone, but they also might not want to commit to a center on a Supermax deal as they commit to their rebuild. They more likely want picks and prospects, of which the Wolves have very few.

That means looping in a third team. Who could that be? There are a few options available, but let’s take a look at one construction that would send Towns to the Lonestar State.