The NBA saw one of its wildest trade deadlines in a long time last week. The Minnesota Timberwolves may not have made any moves, but plenty of other league-shaking trades took place. Obviously, the biggest and most impactful one being the Luka Doncic blockbuster.
When the Dallas Mavericks sent their former franchise star to the Los Angeles Lakers, it was such an unprecedented move that nearly everyone thought the trade was fake at first. But it was very real, and now number 77 resides in the City of Angels, where he will undoubtedly become an even bigger face of the league over the course of the next decade.
According to a recent report, the Lakers were actually not the only team Dallas tried to send Doncic to. According to independent NBA writer Gery Woelfel, several NBA officials have disputed Mavs GM Nico Harrison's report that he only inquired about a deal with the Lakers, saying that at least two other teams were involved in discussions on a potential deal. One of them? Who else but the Timberwolves.
Dallas tried to trade Doncic to the Timberwolves
Common sense says that any discussions between Minnesota and Dallas on a Doncic trade would have revolved around Anthony Edwards being on the other side of a deal, but we can not 100% confirm this was the case here. According to Woelfel, the NBA officials he contacted about this were unwilling to share specific details on the specifics within these discussions, but they remained steadfast that the discussions did indeed take place.
How wild would this have been? Imagine getting a late night notification that Minnesota had opted to exchange one generational superstar for another, and that they had gotten the guy who sent them home in the Western Conference Finals last season. It would have been a bizarrely fascinating situation to say the least, but it does not feel like a situation that would have sat well with the Timberwolves faithful.
Yes, Luka Doncic is incredible, but Anthony Edwards just means too much to this organization. He has already created memories that will last a lifetime for die-hard fans in Minnesota, and sending him away even for a player the likes of Doncic would have hurt. Not to mention doing it just a few short months after trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks would have been even more difficult to bear for this fanbase.