The Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert trade is aging better by the day
By Will Eudy
2. Leandro Bolmaro
After spending just one season with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2021-22, Leandro Bolmaro was arguably the least important of the five players packaged in the Rudy Gobert deal. Selected by the Wolves in the 2020 draft, Bolmaro spent an additional year overseas in 2020-21 before joining the NBA club in Minnesota in 2021.
Two seasons ago, he played sparingly for the Timberwolves, averaging less than seven minutes per contest. He showed some flashes as a defender and playmaker, but did not exhibit much upside and thus was a top candidate to be traded by the team last offseason.
After being sent to Utah, he played even less for the Jazz and never found a spot in the rotation. As such, Bolmaro reached an agreement with the team to buyout his contract shortly after the 2023 trade deadline, and he was waived shortly after.
In March, he landed with Lenovo Tenerife, a professional club in Spain. There does not appear to be a clear path back to the NBA for Bolmaro, barring an MVP-caliber season in Europe.
Giving up five players in a trade will always look dismal, but once you start to peel back the layers, the perception can change. It is clear now that Minnesota did not really lose anything of significance when they traded away Leandro Bolmaro.