Grade the Trade: Proposed trade puts KAT w/ Hornets. But what will Wolves get?
By Bret Stuter
Minnesota Timberwolves’ side of the trade
Do the Minnesota Timberwolves have any motivation to enter into trade negotiations? After all, we know that the leverage that so many trade scenarios use to inspire why the Minnesota Timberwolves must act now is a premature belief that the combination of Gobert and Towns is a failed experiment. How so? What does a successful experiment look like? I’m certain that more than 29 regular-season games are required before we can award a final grade to any NBA trade.
Why won’t the Timberwolves do this
Well, the pieces that the Minnesota Timberwolves acquire in this trade scenario are lighter than the team sent to the Utah Jazz to acquire Rudy Gobert. There are simply fewer picks and players, and in looking over the components, this adds next to nothing in terms of strategic advantages for the Timberwolves roster.
Right now, the value of Karl-Anthony Towns is judged, at least in this trade scenario, to be a veteran point guard who has lost his value to an NBA team for the second time, a power forward whose contract was allowed to lapse, and has not been picked up by any other NBA team, and two first-round picks which, if this trade is consummated, will likely end up being supercharged second-round picks. Assembled into one trade package, the value is more towards what they can become for the Minnesota Timberwolves, rather than what they currently are.
Why will the Timberwolves do this
Time waits for no man, and the closer that the Minnesota Timberwolves approach the end of the 2023-24 NBA season, the more likely that the fair market value of trade packages for any of the Timberwolves’ Top-3 compensated players will fall as a result. So why will the Timberwolves be trading anyone?
When you're seeing Anthony Edwards' max contract be 5 years, $260M, that is only if he makes All-NBA this season.
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) July 3, 2023
If he doesn't make All-NBA, it will be 5 years, $217M -- a *big* factor in the future sustainability of this roster.
Here are what the numbers look like if 5-$260M pic.twitter.com/JVV2M4IIDt
The team gets expensive next year, and several roster holes appear at point guard, and forward. But wait, aren’t those the positions of players who the Timberwolves are being offered in this trade scenario?
And so, the chess match is back on. Do the Timberwolves trade away the offensive firepower of Karl-Anthony Towns today with the expectation of filling two key roster holes next season with affordable players? Perhaps more importantly, does 24-year-old P.J. Washington offer any value to the young wave of Wolves players complementing shooting guard Anthony Edwards? He already averages 15.7 PPG and a 36.6 percent perimeter shot. 29-year-old PG Terry Rozier averages 21.1 PPG and a 36.7 percent career perimeter shot.
But more than anything, this trade adds fiscal feasibility to the Timberwolves roster once more. How important is that to the Timberwolves front office?
Grade the Trade Minnesota Timberwolves: C-
light. Hot. Summing up Timberwolves summer league roster (so far)
While I cannot rule out this particular NBA Trade scenario, I would be very surprised if anything happens before the season starts. Even if the Timberwolves face financial armageddon, they have an entire season to benefit from Towns’ play and in the process are likely to build the market for him.
What are your thoughts? Tempted by this scenario? Or are you more inclined to toss this one back, and perhaps get an even better offer down the road? Let us know . . .