For the first time since 2017-18 — the same season where Jimmy Butler famously banned Ricky Rubio from entering the Minnesota Timberwolves locker room on opening night — the Minnesota Timberwolves are firmly entrenched in the Western Conference playoff picture.
Granted, that can largely be attributed to the NBA expanding their playoff format by incorporating the play-in tournament, but the Wolves are just 1.5 games back from avoiding the play-in by finishing as a top-6 seed.
Depending on how you look at it, this season’s trade deadline comes at a peculiar moment for the Timberwolves. Riding the momentum of a five-game winning streak before dropping Wednesday night’s second half of road back-to-backs, the Wolves are clicking on all cylinders. After Tuesday night’s road win in Sacramento, the team announced that the 339 points from the bench was highest collective scoring punch from the reserves over a six-game span in franchise history.
Which makes this season’s trade deadline all the more intriguing. As the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” However, the NBA has been, and will continue to be a league that is built around accumulating as many assets as possible to build a legitimate roster that’s capable of doing damage in April, May, and June. And for the first time in arguably the entire history of the franchise, the Wolves are sitting on a handful of young assets who are both desirable to the rest of the league — ones that could potentially fetch an even greater asset in return.
If the expectations for the Timberwolves are to simply make the playoffs and be content with going one-and-done for the 10th time in 11 playoff appearances in franchise history, then sure, no need to rock the boat.
On the other hand, if Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez feel like making a splash in Year 1 with their fingerprints on the franchise (with Glen Taylor’s blessing), the pieces are there to make a bold move ahead of the trade deadline. And a move that could immediately turn the Timberwolves into a serious threat in the West.
Let’s take a look at four potential swaps that the Wolves could make in order to bolster their chances in the 2022 playoffs.
After spending most of his NBA career on the west coast, Ames, Ia. native Harrison Barnes in Minneapolis is about as close to a homecoming as he could ask for. After winning a championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2015, they made the obvious decision to let Barnes walk in free agency to sign Kevin Durant. While Barnes, 29, is far from a flashy, headline-garnering player, he’s the prototypical position-less big who defends 1 through 5 — especially when teams decide to go small.
By inserting Barnes as the starting three alongside Russell, Edwards, Vanderbilt, and Towns, the Wolves would add a player who:
- Is shooting .393 from beyond the arc since 2018-19
- Can create his own shot off the bounce
- And is a reliable defender with a championship pedigree
What adds to the intrigue of Barnes is that he’s under contract for the 2022-23 season.
While the reports have come out that the Kings plan on keeping Barnes past the deadline, the Wolves would be wise to call Sacramento’s bluff before the deadline passes. As it stands now, the Kings are 13th in the West and appear to be a longshot at making the play-in.
The Detroit Pistons are going nowhere fast and NBA contenders have their eyes set on poaching Jerami Grant from the Motor City. Grant played a crucial role as a starter for the Denver Nuggets when they made the Western Conference Finals in the 2020 postseason.
Grant is a souped-up version of Jarred Vanderbilt. He’s a twitchy defender with length that provides help-side rim protection, and is an absolute nightmare in transition. Where Grant differentiates himself from Vanderbilt is his ability to contribute on the offensive end. In the 2020 playoffs, Grant had five games where he chipped in 17-plus points. And while Grant’s efficiency as a three-point shooter has worsened with the added volume in Detroit, he shot the deep ball at a .391% clip from 2018-’20 with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets.
While Patrick Beverley‘s postseason experience is a plus, the Timberwolves could really stand to benefit from adding another reliable player who knows how to get it done when the lights get brighter.
Now we’re talkin’. With reports flying that Ben Simmons could be headed to Brooklyn as part of a James Harden swap, 76ers GM Daryl Morey has played the long game while dealing with his disgruntled superstar. But should negotiations with Brooklyn stall, the Timberwolves should absolutely throw their hat in the ring of the Simmons sweepstakes.
What makes Simmons so appealing to the Wolves is that, theoretically, his shortcomings as a scorer in the half-court wouldn’t be nearly as magnified. When the 76ers lost Jimmy Butler, Simmons became the primary ball handler and creator. And as we saw in last season’s playoffs, that isn’t exactly Simmons’ bag. With Anthony Edwards, Simmons wouldn’t need to be the engine of the offense. Instead, he could lean into his strengths of being a true lockdown on-ball defender and look for his opportunities as a cutter in the half-court when the game slows down in crunch time.
Long story short, there’s enough offensive firepower by way of Towns, Edwards, and Beasley in Minnesota that would make for Simmons’ game-altering defensive impact to flourish. And my goodness, could you imagine Simmons leading the break with Edwards in transition?
Every year there seems to be an unexpected franchise that puts their cards on the table and announces their true intentions. And sure enough, the Portland Trail Blazers declared on Monday that they’re staring down the barrel of a rebuild following the trade of CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans. With Portland on the outside looking in on the play-in, currently slotted as the 11th seed, could Damian Lillard be had at Thursday’s deadline?
The McCollum trade makes it worth monitoring, and if Lillard were to become available, the Wolves would be outside their mind if they didn’t try to move mountains to acquire the All-NBA point guard. It’s worth mentioning that Lillard has struggled by his standards this year while battling through injuries. But if the Wolves were to pull off a blockbuster at the 11th hour, this is exactly the type of move that could catapult them into Western Conference supremacy.
Regardless of how the trade deadline shakes out on Thursday, the Timberwolves find themselves at an organizational crossroads: Trust the process with their existing young, promising core? Or swing for the fences and bring in a veteran that could seriously help their chances at winning a series or two in a few months?
