It was recently reported by Jake Fischer that the Minnesota Timberwolves will no longer be in the Giannis sweepstakes.
“Minnesota, I don’t really see them being a factor in the Giannis sweepstakes right now either,” Fischer said.
Lucky for the Timberwolves, it was never going to be Giannis or bust this offseason; they've been firmly in the mix for just about every available star.
It's pretty well documented that any star the Timberwolves make a trade for this offseason will have some level of risk attached to them. Whether it's injuries, age, or a short contract, the Wolves will have to pick their battles due to their lack of draft capital and unwillingness to part ways with guys like Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid.
One player, Anthony Davis, is certainly full of risks, but his value shouldn't be out of the Wolves' range, and when he's healthy, he is one of the most dominant forces on both sides of the basketball in the league.
Anthony Davis would be a seamless fit with Anthony Edwards
I understand the leaguewide perception of Davis isn't great right now, from being the headliner in arguably the worst trade of all time, to having a forgettable tenure in Dallas due to injuries, and then being shipped to the Washington Wizards in what was essentially a salary dump.
It's undetermined if he'll suit up for the Wizards, as there have been rumblings that Davis could be on the move amid the need for a new deal. If the Wizards are taking calls, I expect Tim Connelly to be on the other line.
When Davis is healthy, he is almost as good a defensive anchor as Rudy Gobert, but instead of being pretty useless in a lot of aspects on offense, he can give you 25 points per game pretty easily. He's always had a super effective post and mid-range game, and can even space out to the perimeter for the occasional three. Davis, being Edwards' pick-and-roll partner as opposed to Gobert, would open the offense up exponentially.
The age and injuries are definitely a concern, but almost all of the players the Wolves are linked to have similar concerns. Davis is younger than Gobert, as well as Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard, who are other names the Wolves have been linked to.
The injuries prevent him from being my number one target of the offseason, but fit alone, it would be hard not to be happy about Davis being the Wolves' new star big man.
AD does a lot of the same things as Giannis, but likely costs half as much
If the Wolves previously had Giannis circled at the top of their target list, then it would make sense for Davis not to be far behind. Now obviously Giannis is the better player, and he's slightly younger, but Giannis is similarly injury-prone as well.
It's probably smart that the Wolves likely backed out of the sweepstakes, as the juice probably wasn't worth the squeeze with the amount of assets the Wolves would have to give up.
If they can get a relatively similar player in Anthony Davis for half of the price that it would have cost to get Giannis, that seems like a risk that could pay dividends.
Would AD be too risky a play? Maybe, but I don't count out Tim Connelly for anything, and the only thing I'll tell Wolves fans about this upcoming offseason is to expect the unexpected.
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