The Minnesota Timberwolves are attempting to become the first team to win the NBA Finals with zero point guards on the roster. Okay, that might not be true, but the Timberwolves were already thin on point guards before they traded Mike Conley to the Chicago Bulls.
There is a lot of nuance required here, of course. Conley was a clear trade candidate as his production has cratered in 2025-26, so trading him doesn't come as a huge shock. Plus, the move was made to clear up some space on the Wolves' cap sheet as they continue their pursuit of Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.
With that being said — if a Giannis trade doesn't happen, and the Wolves don't go out and acquire a different point guard, suddenly a position of (somewhat) need actually got less deep at the deadline. That's risky!
Timberwolves must be confident in Giannis pursuit
Either the Wolves really, really think they can pull off the blockbuster of all blockbusters in the next 48 hours, or the team is supremely confident in Donte DiVincenzo and Anthony Edwards as the only guards they need the rest of this season.
Or both! Still, even if the team believes in Donte and Ant (which it should, for the record, as that's a great backcourt), it's still pretty surprising to see Conley go before the Wolves make any backcourt moves in which they add a player.
In January, Conley averaged 17 minutes per game; he wasn't incredible, but he was a body out there in the Wolves backcourt, who are now left with their starting guards, Bones Hyland, Rob Dillingham... And no one else. No matter how good Ant and Donte are, they will both need rest at some point, and this team is not loaded with reliable backcourt options. Dillingham is virtually out of the rotation, and Hyland can be good in short bursts, but Chris Finch probably can't trust him as the regular backup point guard.
Fans shouldn't panic yet; we're still about 48 hours away from the deadline, and about 1000 moves will be made between now and Thursday afternoon. But in the meantime, the Wolves' most obvious area to target at the deadline has been the opposite; they've traded one of the few guards on their roster.
If the Wolves trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo, I don't think too many folks will care about the backup guard position being a little shaky. But they haven't done that yet... So we should probably care!