Ahead of the trade deadline, I think everyone knows that the Minnesota Timberwolves need to upgrade their point guard depth. Bones Hyland, Mike Conley, and Rob Dillingham aren't an ideal PG trio for a team with title hopes. As such, it's somewhat natural that people have speculated that they could trade for a star-level point guard, including Ja Morant.
However, it's been consistently reported (mainly by Jake Fischer) that the Timberwolves aren't interested in adding a high-salary player. On Friday, Michael Scotto confirmed Fischer's previous reporting that the Wolves aren't interested in Morant.
"Earlier this season, the Minnesota Timberwolves also conducted due diligence and called Memphis regarding Morant’s availability, but that interest has subsided since," Scotto reported.
Not pursuing a trade for Morant (or another high-salary player) makes a lot of sense. The Wolves have limited cap space and depth. Thus, they would have to give up multiple key players in their rotation to make a move. In the case of Morant, this is especially not ideal given his injury and playstyle risks.
While I doubt this will be the case, hopefully Scotto's reporting finally silences the noise on social media around a Wolves-Ja trade.
Trading for Ja doesn't make any sense
As noted, trading for any large contract would be difficult given the Wolves' high payroll and risky given the key players Minnesota would have to sacrifice to make the money work. However, these concerns with Ja are tenfold and thus a move should be avoided.
Morant's injury concerns are immense. He has only played in more than 60 games twice in his career, and this was in his first two seasons. Morant's injuries have influenced his play on the court, too -- his rim attempts are at a career low of 4.2 per game. Furthermore, Morant's lack of defense and 3-point shooting (20.8 percent from beyond the arc) are clear concerns.
The risks with Morant outweigh the possible upside. As such, it's not practical for the Wolves to gut their depth to trade for Ja. Thankfully, Tim Connelly and the Wolves understand this and won't pursue a trade for Morant.
Nevertheless, a trade deadline move for a PG does seem likely for the Wolves. Scotto mentioned Collin Sexton as a trade target, a player that Jake Fischer has previously noted the Wolves are interested in. Sexton is a clear high-end target for Minnesota, but even trading for a cheaper contract like Kris Dunn could prove to be an impactful move.
The Wolves have made back-to-back conference finals appearances, and don't need to rock the boat. Upgrading the point guard position in some way is ideal, but this doesn't need to result in a blockbuster trade, especially for a player like Morant.