The NBA trade deadline is just 15 days away, but there are no moves the Minnesota Timberwolves could make to salvage this season. All they can do is facilitate future assets. Part of the fanbase believes that trading D’Angelo Russell would be worth the payoff down the line, but I beg to differ.
Admittedly, even when he’s been healthy, DLo hasn’t produced to the level the Wolves expected when they acquired him from the Golden State Warriors last year. The defense is stale with or without him, but people started to panic when the offensive numbers and efficiency started to dip. At times, Russell has looked like a shell of the player who was selected as an All-Star in 2019.
However, part of that is the lack of surrounding talent. Karl-Anthony Towns and Russell have played together five times since Russell came over last year. And Towns is the reason to keep DLo in Minnesota.
Their bond was a factor in bringing him on board in the first place. Sure, Gersson Rosas made the trade to bolster the roster and add a legitimate star point guard. But the underlying assumption was that acquiring someone who will please Minnesota’s superstar player would have other, more intangible benefits. Namely, keeping him in Minnesota.
Trading Russell could start a vicious cycle. One would imagine Towns wouldn’t be happy. Do the Wolves really want to put themselves in a spot where trading away Towns’ friend makes him recalculate his future? I doubt it.
Trading Russell would also signal yet another rebuild of sorts for Minnesota. The odds of trading Russell for another player with a similar skill-set is unlikely. Anyone inquiring about him would probably be a contender willing to give up picks and other future assets, and they would be dealing from a position of strength. DLo is considering a depreciating asset.
Some of the frustration with DLo is warranted. The guard who really came into his own in Brooklyn and briefly in the Bay Area is not the guard the Wolves have seen so far, and he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. But in a season that’s already lost, compounding that frustration by trading Russell could make things catastrophically worse.
The job of the front office is not to coddle and overprotect KAT. But it is on them to make sure that their stars are happy. That’s true of every franchise in the NBA. If there was a larger sample size of Russell and KAT on the court together and it clearly wasn’t working, this would be a different discussion. But that’s not the case. So instead, I’ll give the most annoying advice possible: Hang tight.
This year is a wash, as we knew early in the season. There are solid pieces in place on this team right now that can be part of the future. One of those could very well be Russell. The hope is Chris Finch can unlock the All-Star version of him. The Wolves front office should use the rest of the season to see what they have when KAT and DLo are both healthy and Beasley’s suspension has been served.
It’s a mess right now, but trading Russell won’t fix it.
