The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 10, and things should be picking up soon. Fans will immediately wonder if the Philadelphia 76ers will trade Ben Simmons and who will benefit from the Indiana Pacers’ fire sale. But there will be a lot of low-wattage moves that will make a big difference.
Jakob Poeltl isn’t a big name, but he’s a difference-maker who could be on the move. The San Antonio Spurs’ starting center is on a team-friendly 2-year, $8.7 million deal. Poeltl is averaging nearly 13 points per game, 9 boards, and just under three assists a game. Although his offensive game has never been his strong suit, he’s posting career highs in points per game and assists.
The Spurs had discussed Poeltl trades with the Toronto Raptors last year. So while Poeltl isn’t exactly living in the rumor mill, it’s not unthinkable for the Spurs to be open to moving him.
Poeltl, 26, is about to enter his prime. Therefore, it’d be beneficial for a rebuilding Spurs team to move on from Poeltl before the trade deadline. He’s not part of their current young core of Dejounte Murray (25), Keldon Johnson (22), and Devin Vassell (21). But even though Poeltl is not a significant piece of San Antonio’s future, he won’t be cheap to acquire.
It will probably take a solid starter and a 1st round pick to trade for him. It would more than likely look something like this for the Minnesota Timberwolves:
I know the concept of giving up 1st round picks will give some fans anxiety, especially with the value most of those picks had. When you have a bottom-5 record in the league, your picks are usually top-5 most valuable in the league. Wolves have had the luxury of extremely valuable picks for years, but not this year. Even though this year’s 1st round pick will be Minnesota’s least valuable pick in a long time, it still holds value so, they shouldn’t be afraid to shop it, especially if they can add a player like Poeltl.
When it comes to the players involved, it’s basically a Malik Beasley-for-Poeltl swap. Beasley is still a good player, and Wolves fans may sometimes forget how rare and beneficial his playstyle is. But he’s become more tradeable as Jaylen Nowell has ascended.
Leandro Bolmaro is a young point guard who deserves to be on a team willing to develop him more. I like his game, but I think it may be the wrong place for him. Adding Zach Collins would mostly be a salary match, but Collins could be an end-of-rotation contributor if healthy.
Keep in mind that a player’s trade value is often fluid depending on the number of offers the team receives from others around the league. This package could be a bit of an overpay, or a bit of an underpay.
The Wolves should be all-in for a center at the deadline, specifically a rim defender. Although Karl-Anthony Towns is an underrated rim protector, I don’t trust him in a Western Conference full of quality bigs. The Wolves will likely finish around the play-in, leaving them to face players like Nikola Jokic, Deandre Ayton, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James. While KAT’s rim protection may be adequate in the regular season, it won’t survive in the playoffs.
Enter Poeltl.
The NBA considers shots from six feet or closer to be “around the rim.” When looking at opponent field goal percentage around the rim, Poeltl ranks 15th lowest amongst players who have played at least 30 games. He cedes a 55.9% field goal percentage around the rim to his opponents, similar numbers to players like Myles Turner and Daniel Gafford.
Poeltl can also pack a shot up with the best of them. He ranks 11th in the league with a 4.9% block percentage.
I’ve mentioned the need for another big on the Wolves roster in my Turner and Greg Monroe articles, and I maintain that stance here. Poeltl is 7’1”, a two-inch increase over the Wolves’ current tallest player, KAT (6’11”). This size increase would be huge for the Wolves, both literally and figuratively.
His fit in the lineup would most likely be a starting role at the 5, sliding Towns to the 4 and allowing him to dominate against smaller players. On defense, it would allow for KAT to excel in a help defense role and allow Poeltl to patrol and protect the paint. I went more in-depth on a pairing similar to this in my Turner article.
The Wolves may need to look at smaller deals with a Myles Turner and Ben Simmons trade looking less likely by the day. That idea doesn’t necessarily mean the deal is less important. A potential Jakob Poeltl deal could be a huge acquisition for the Wolves, especially come playoff time.
