Ja Morant has understandably been discussed as a trade candidate among Minnesota Timberwolves fans, given the team's need for a point guard and second option alongside Anthony Edwards. The Wolves were linked to Ja at the deadline, but ultimately their interest subsided. As intriguing as a possible Morant-Wolves trade is, the risk attached to Ja should scare Minnesota off.
Sam Amick and Eric Nehm of The Athletic recently added some level of buzz to a possible Morant-Wolves trade.
"Few decision makers around the NBA have been as aggressive as Wolves president Tim Connelly, whose team went to back-to-back conference finals before falling to San Antonio in the second round of this season’s playoffs. Along the way, Connelly pursued stars like Kevin Durant and Antetokounmpo (at the February trade deadline) while showing some level of interest in others like Kyrie Irving and Ja Morant, but has yet to land a high-profile running mate for Anthony Edwards," The Athletic wrote.
Based on the word choice, it's not clear how current the Wolves' interest in Morant is. Still, his name will likely be linked to the Wolves throughout the offseason, given their need for a point guard and co-star alongside Edwards. Again, though, I don't think trading for Morant is in the Wolves' best interest.
Why trading for Ja Morant is too risky for the Timberwolves
One could argue that trading for a two-time All-Star guard who is still just 26 is something the Wolves shouldn't pass up on, particularly given that whoever they trade for will have some level of risk. Nevertheless, Morant has played in 60 or more games just once in the past five seasons.
It's not uncommon for hyper-athletic guards to have an extremely short prime; given Morant's injury history, that unfortunately might be the case.
Despite his young age, Morant is already showing signs of decline with his points-per-game average dropping in each year after peaking at 27.4 points in the 2021-22 season. More concerningly, Morant's rim numbers have declined in each of the past four seasons.
As important as it is for the Wolves to find someone who can take the pressure off Ant as a creator and ball-handler, they also need someone with off-ball capabilities. Morant (a career 31.1 percent 3-point shooter) doesn't fit this bill. As such, I'm concerned about how he'd adapt to the need to play off the ball.
While Morant's value is likely at a low point, he still makes $42.1 million next season -- this is $5.6 million more than Rudy Gobert and $8.8 million more than Julius Randle.
Meaning the Wolves would either have to part ways with more players, possibly even some of their young talent, or the injured Donte DiVincenzo (which feels wrong), or cut significant salary in another trade, for either Randle or Gobert. Thus, trading for Ja isn't "an easy buy-low."
There's a chance that Morant could revitalize his career and help the Wolves reach another level. However, there's a far greater chance that trading for Morant would backfire, given the immense number of concerns attached to him.
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