Does Simmons trade scenario mean Wolves solve the Damian Lillard stalemate?

Time to unveil the trade proposal

The current Bill Simmons trade proposal suggests that the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves should pursue an NBA Trade in its simplest form: One player for one player.  But we know that trade will never get off the ground, as the Trail Blazers have already rejected more valuable trade packages.

And there is the small matter of draft picks. After all, the Portland Trail Blazers want to build a team to compete in the future. But the Timberwolves cupboards are rather bare when it comes to discretionary draft picks.

That creates a few challenges for the two teams and forces any successful trade scenario to involve some creativity.

A deal does develop

So what does a trade like this look like? Well, the first hurdle is matching inbound and outbound salaries. After all, NBA rules are complex when it involves trading highly compensated players. But that is merely the first speed bump in this trade scenario:

Since the incoming Damian Lillard is due to earn more than Karl-Anthony Towns, the Timberwolves need to close that gap by including promising second-year player Josh Minott in the deal.

To compensate for any sleight of value by the Trail Blazers, we have added an option to swap first-round draft picks in 2028, as well as tossed in a 2024 second-round draft pick to boot. While draft picks are always negotiable,