With the Minnesota Timberwolves having little wiggle room salary-wise and only one roster spot left to fill (technically two, but they'll likely only use one for cap purposes), there's been lots of speculation as to who will be the newest member of the squad. Jonathan Kuminga has been mentioned, but he's likely out of the Wolves' price range.
Someone willing to accept a veteran minimum contract is about all the Wolves can afford. All the talk is about power forwards, but truthfully, any power forward left in free agency (except for Kuminga) isn't going to play many meaningful minutes.
Instead, I would look at a guy like Lonzo Ball. Injuries have taken a major toll on him, but he still provides positional size, basketball IQ, and, oh, he's Lamelo Ball's older brother.
There isn't really a downside to having Lonzo on the team
Does Lonzo help solve the power forward vacancy? No. Is Lonzo going to be in a playoff rotation? Likely not, barring extensive injuries. But will he give LaMelo a familiar face in Minnesota and give this team more leadership and basketball IQ, which they've lacked in the past? Absolutely.
The Lonzo who was notching triple-doubles and helped the Chicago Bulls reach the playoffs four years ago is gone. However, in the right setting, I believe he can still be a valuable contributor in a low-minutes role.
He's labeled as a point guard, but he's on the bigger side at 6-foot-5, so he can theoretically defend 1-3. While the many knee surgeries pretty much zapped his athleticism, you can't teach feel and IQ. Special playmaking abilities seem to run in the Ball family, and like LaMelo, Lonzo can create good looks for others and see plays before they happen.
Signing Lonzo would certainly make LaMelo very happy
LaMelo certainly doesn't need Lonzo on the team by any stretch of the imagination; he's done just fine being the only Ball brother on the roster in Charlotte. But how could the opportunity to play with his brother not excite him even more for this fresh start in Minnesota?
Obviously, if this move came true, the Wolves would need to deal with LaVar Ball's antics even more than they likely will, but it's all in good fun. But the point is, anyone they sign from this point onward likely isn't going to be an everyday rotational player, so how badly could signing Lonzo really hurt?
He might be completely cooked from injuries and could very well be a younger version of what Joe Ingles was last year, but I bet he'd accept that role, given simply having a spot in the league is probably all he's hoping for this summer.
The only downside I see to this potential move is a lot of profanity in the locker room interviews, and the Wolves already have that in spades, so he'll fit right in.
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