After reports that the Minnesota Timberwolves were monitoring Trae Young, it looked like trading for the star point guard was a possibility. However, on Wednesday, trusted insider Jake Fischer quickly shut this possibility down.
"I'm told that Young’s camp has suggested Minnesota and Brooklyn, from their side, as two attractive potential destinations. Yet I'm also told that neither the Timberwolves nor the Nets are in pursuit," Fischer noted.
Fischer mentioned that the Wolves would have to sacrifice too many key players to match Young's salary. He went on to report that this also takes the Wolves out of the market for LaMelo Ball and Ja Morant.
For a team that desperately lacks depth, this makes a lot of sense, especially since these guards have clear stylistic and injury risks. If the Wolves add a point guard, it looks like it's going to be one with a mid-tier salary.
Avoiding a Trae Young trade is in the Timberwolves' best interest
Undoubtedly, Fischer's reporting should be welcomed news for Wolves fans. We had already heard that a Ball or Morant trade was unlikely, but a Young trade seemed to be possible. However, it didn't seem practical. The Wolves would have either had to trade Julius Randle and depth or Naz Reid and even more depth to make a move for Trae.
Frankly, Randle is a straight-up better player than Young, so throwing more players would be disastrous. Likewise, completely gutting your depth for him would be problematic, and they would likely have to enter the second tax apron if they moved off Reid.
And none of this accounts for Trae's on-court fit being less than perfect. His heliocentric style of play and awful defense make him a questionable fit with Anthony Edwards. By all accounts, a trade for Young didn't make sense for the Wolves.
Now this doesn't mean the Wolves shouldn't look to upgrade their point guard room -- they absolutely should. Nevertheless, as Fischer noted, a mid-tier salary player remains in their best interest. Fischer has previously connected Collin Sexton to Minnesota -- his fit would be perfect in my eyes. Dennis Schroder and Tre Jones would be two more names I'd look into. Even cheaper contracts, such as Kris Dunn, Jose Alvarado, and Ayo Dosunmu, would be intriguing options for the Wolves.
While the Wolves roster isn't perfect, let us not forget this core went to the conference finals last season and the year before that, a slightly different version of this team did. A move around the edges could be all the Wolves need to put together another deep playoff run.