With the NBA trade deadline a little over two weeks away now, rumors are heating up even more around the league. Of course, for the Minnesota Timberwolves, the most-discussed potential trades have involved Julius Randle.
It is no secret that Randle has been far from the best fit since he arrived in the Twin Cities in September. In reality, his on-court play has actually been mostly good. He has his own unique problems, of which ball-holding and lack of defensive effort stand out as the most significant. But his general statistical production has been largely positive.
So when we look at the reality of a Randle trade, it actually does not seem all that likely. Team insider Jon Krawczynski spoke on the matter recently and voiced his belief that the Timberwolves dealing Julius before the February 6 deadline is "unlikely."
Of course, unlikely does not mean impossible. But we have seen how positively Chris Finch speaks of Randle, and it seems that he truly believes this team can still get over the hump with Julius still on the roster.
Minnesota would likely have to take back bad contracts to trade Randle
So with all that in mind, we start to consider under what circumstances Minnesota would reasonably move Randle away ahead of the deadline. Obviously, if they got a slam-dunk offer they could not resist and another team was willing to overpay, they would jump on that. But with that not really being a realistic possibility, other more likely scenarios start to come to the forefront.
Probably the only way the Timberwolves can actually deal Randle is if they are willing to take back bad contracts from other teams. The idea here being that they would be willing to put themselves in a less than favorable situation financially if it means getting Randle somewhere else.
As of right now, Julius has a player option for next season worth $30.9 million. Assuming Minnesota doesn't want to give him a new contract and also wants to avoid him leaving for nothing, they may just have to take on one or several bad contracts that would make life more difficult for them not just next season but in following years as well.
It's a pretty steep price to pay from a team-building perspective, but that's the natural result when you make a big gamble that doesn't pay off for you. Again, don't expect to see Randle moved before the deadline. But on the off chance he does find a new home just four months after the big September trade, the return for the Timberwolves may not be the greatest.