It has been a little over a year since the Minnesota Timberwolves executed the trade that landed them three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. In one year with the franchise, Gobert helped the team reach the playoffs for a second consecutive year, and gave them tremendous production as an interior defensive presence.
But despite the level of player Rudy Gobert is, many were quick to harshly criticize the Timberwolves’ trade for him. Much of the criticism was centered around the rather large package Minnesota surrendered to the Utah Jazz to acquire him.
In all, the Timberwolves sent over four total first-round picks and an additional first-round pick swap along with five players in the deal as well. Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Leandro Bolmaro, Walker Kessler and Jarred Vanderbilt were all packaged in order to acquire Rudy Gobert.
It is easy to see why the trade was widely chastised from the outset. The package for Gobert essentially set the standard for what it would take to acquire a big name star in the NBA going forward. But as time has gone on, we are seeing that perhaps this seemingly lavish trade may not be so crippling for the Timberwolves in the long run after all.
Let’s take a look at each player Minnesota dealt away in the Gobert trade, and where they are now.
This is where each player traded for Rudy Gobert is now:
1. Walker Kessler
Walker Kessler represents the biggest outlier among the group of players traded for Rudy Gobert. Not only is he the best of the five players included in the trade, but he would have theoretically been a fantastic fit in Minnesota this past season had the team not dealt him away.
Named to the All-Rookie First Team, Kessler had a dazzling rookie campaign for the Utah Jazz. He finished the season third in Rookie Of the Year voting and looked like one of the more dominant shot-blockers in the entire league.
It is certainly painful for Timberwolves fans to think that he could still be in Minnesota. But the bottom line is that Rudy Gobert is still a better overall player and better in his role than Walker Kessler, until further notice.
Any yearning to see Kessler in a Wolves uniform should quickly be quelled at remembering the reality that Rudy Gobert is locked into Minnesota for the long haul. And now that we are done with Kessler, the rest of this list becomes significantly more bearable to read.
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.
3. Malik Beasley
In the fall, Malik Beasley will be joining his third team since leaving the Minnesota Timberwolves. After being dealt to the Jazz last July, he spent half the 2022-23 season in Salt Lake City before being sent to the Los Angeles Lakers in the D’Angelo Russell trade at the deadline.
Just ten days ago, the Lakers declined to pick up his option for next season, making him a free agent. From there, he signed a one-year minimum deal with the Milwaukee Bucks. It is clear that Beasley’s value has gone down significantly from where it was a year ago.
To add a little context, the Timberwolves signed Malik Beasley to a four-year, $60 million contract ahead of the 2020-21 season. After being a player that was worth paying an average of $15 million a year for, Beasley will now be making just $2.7 million total in his one-year deal with the Bucks.
So what happened? It is not as if Beasley’s production fell off a cliff, nor has he has sustained any major injuries in the last three years since signing his $60 million contract. The reason for his sharp decline in value largely comes from his archetype as a player. Beasley is a spot-up three-point shooter that can drill from outside the arc.
But his game is not so expansive beyond that. Three-point “specialists” like him have become less desirable in recent years, something that Timberwolves President Tim Connelly likely factored in when deciding to trade Beasley. As we see the demand for players like him dipping, it is clear that Minnesota made the right choice moving on from him.
4. Jarred Vanderbilt
Playing on his second team since leaving the Timberwolves, Jarred Vanderbilt found a nice niche with the Lakers as a perimeter stopper and was able to make his way into their playoff rotation as they reached the Western Conference Finals.
Two seasons ago in Minnesota, he started 67 games in the frontcourt alongside Karl-Anthony Towns, bringing important minutes as a rebounder and doing a lot of the dirty work to help the Wolves succeed. The problem was, he was less useful when going against bigger lineups that could take advantage of his smaller frame for a center.
Of course, every player has deficiencies and things that make them exploitable. But Vanderbilt’s overall fit with the team going forward was questionable enough in the eyes of Tim Connelly that it was worth it to move him for the right price. Rudy Gobert’s interior presence as a rebounder and shot-blocker were a clear upgrade over what Vanderbilt brought to the table.
As if that was not enough, the Timberwolves may have even found a better version of Jarred Vanderbilt last month in Leonard Miller. After Minnesota took Miller with the 33rd overall pick in the draft, he has showcased that he may just have the skillset to replace what Vanderbilt brought to the table. It does not seem that Vando will be missed in the Twin Cities anytime soon.
5. Patrick Beverley
Patrick Beverley may have the craziest resume of them all since departing the Minnesota Timberwolves. After being sent to the Jazz, Beverley was the first of the former Timberwolves to join the Lakers when he was traded to LA last August.
At the trade deadline in February, Pat Bev was traded from the Lakers to the Magic in a four-team deal, where he eventually reached a buyout agreement before ever suiting up for Orlando. A week later, he opted to play for his hometown team and signed with the Chicago Bulls.
A little over a week ago, he signed a one-year, $3.1 million deal with the 76ers for the 2023-24 season. For those keeping track at home, that will make six teams for Patrick Beverley in a little over one calendar year.
After Pat Bev’s long basketball journey that eventually led him to the NBA and his excellent one-year stint with the Timberwolves, it is easy to see why he is still so beloved in Minnesota. He has worked harder than most to get to where he is, and he also took great pride in suiting up for the Wolves.
But at the end of the day, there is simply not an incredibly high demand for Patrick Beverley right now. Sure, most of us would welcome him back to Minnesota, but he would be taking minutes away from those who are primed to blossom in bigger roles like Jaden McDaniels. Moving on from him was ultimately the right choice.
As we look at these five players the Timberwolves traded for Rudy Gobert, it becomes increasingly obvious that none of them are missed enough for it to matter. Dunking on the five-pick, five-player trade is easy on a surface level, but digging deeper reveals that it was really not so lopsided in hindsight.