The Minnesota Timberwolves finally put an end to their five-game losing streak with a victory over the Golden State Warriors on Monday. While it was great to get back in the win column, it came against a severely undermanned team.
A 28-19 record is nothing to frown at. Still, Minnesota currently sits seventh in the Western Conference, and a Play-In Tournament appearance surely wasn’t the expectation heading into the season. The team is good, but one with noticeable flaws, and Zach Lowe is nearly certain that the Timberwolves will make a trade by the February 5 deadline.
On the most recent episode of his podcast The Zach Lowe Show, Lowe spoke about the Timberwolves’ funk (prior to their victory over Golden State on Monday) and Bones Hyland beginning to slump. After speaking about Bones, Lowe predicted a trade is on the way.
"That’s the reason I’ve said all season I’ll be shocked if they don’t make a trade to upgrade their playmaking off the bench," Lowe said.
The Timberwolves guard depth is a key problem
Now, Hyland did score 17 in their recent victory, but it further accentuates the inconsistencies that he has on the offensive end. That's the same number of points that he had in the previous five games combined. All season, Chris Finch has only been able to count on Naz Reid to be productive off the bench on a nightly basis.
While much of the fanbase believes the days of playing Mike Conley 15-20 minutes an outing should be over, Finch continues to play him that amount of time. The 38-year-old is only averaging 4.6 points in 18.5 minutes this season and has been very inefficient.
Most fans agree with Lowe, and they believe a deal will be made knowing how the tenure of Tim Connelly has been with the team. He has acquired Rudy Gobert, traded Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, and also dealt for Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. The Rob Dillingham trade has proven to be a miss, but Connelly has no fear in shaking up the team.
The bench has been an issue all season. While Minnesota is in seventh in the conference, they are only 1.5 games behind the fourth-place Houston Rockets. A small move to improve the depth on the roster can help the franchise move up the standings.
Just eight days remain until the trade deadline, and much like Lowe, I fully expect the Timberwolves to make at least one trade to bolster the bench.