Nearly a week after a bitter end to the 2025-26 season, where the Minnesota Timberwolves crumbled in their last game of the playoffs for the third straight year, the vibes in the Twin Cities are low.
Julius Randle, who once gave goosebumps every time, is now a pariah in the land of 10,000 lakes. Rudy Gobert laid an oeuf against his countryman Victor Wembanyama after dominating Nikola Jokic in the first round. Anthony Edwards already has the aggregators and fake insiders revved up to trade him to the nearest big market team. And in the eyes of many fans, Chris Finch can’t be fired faster than the Portland Trail Blazers’ business staff.
It’s a massively important offseason for Tim Connelly to get right. We’re in the golden age of Timberwolves basketball. Finch has guided the team to five straight playoff appearances and three straight years making it out of the first round. The expectations for next season will be high despite the 64-win reigning champion, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the 62-win San Antonio Spurs looking like they have clamps on the top of the West for the next decade.
The whole roster, other than Edwards, should be fair game for Connelly to work his magic with and try to find the right move to get the Wolves back into legitimate contention. Whether it’s an all-in move for Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, or some yet-to-be-revealed star to pair with Anthony Edwards or a smaller move around the edges, the expectation is that Connelly finds a way to get Edwards a true running mate.
However, with Minnesota’s current asset situation, it might be more prudent for Connelly to steer away from throwing all his chips in the center of the table for one superstar. Instead, he should amass as many future assets as humanly possible.
It’s impossible to tell the future in the NBA. Teams that look like they’re lined up for a decade of excellence can have their window slammed shut without warning. Nobody saw the Luka Doncic trade coming. And there’s always surprise teams waiting in the shadows to usurp today’s powerhouse franchises.
But the Timberwolves may have maxed out their current roster. They can’t count on Julius Randle as a secondary scorer in the playoffs. Rudy Gobert is going to be 34 years old next season. And Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, and Naz Reid are hitting their primes.
It will be difficult to bet on internal improvement this time around. The main expendable trade chips, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert, won’t fetch any elite talent coming back on their own. And Minnesota would still need to attach picks to McDaniels or Reid in deals to land a big star. It may be better to take a small step back next season to jump-start the softest of rebuilds.
The Timberwolves are asset-poor. They have the 28th pick in the upcoming draft, their 2028 first-round pick, and that’s it. Their 2027 and 2029 picks were part of the Rudy Gobert trade. San Antonio can swap picks with Minnesota in 2030, and Minnesota’s first-rounder in 2031 is going to Sacramento. The cupboards are bare. Now is the time to replenish.
Randle will be the topic of conversation all offseason. He took over scoring responsibility from Ant in the regular season when Edwards missed a career-high 21 games due to various injuries. Still, I’m not convinced that losing Randle for future assets will have much impact on winning. The issue is that after his disastrous playoff run, how much is Randle even worth? If you can get even one first-round pick for Randle and the requisite salary coming back, you think long and hard about doing it. Looking at a few trades from this season could help gauge Randle’s market.
The Memphis Grizzlies sent Jaren Jackson Jr., Jock Landale, John Konchar, and Vince Williams Jr. to the Utah Jazz for Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks, Georges Niang, and three future first-round picks. Essentially, the trade boils down to Jaren Jackson Jr. for three firsts. That’s a hefty haul for a two-time All-Star and former DPOY. Randle has a similar pedigree, having been a three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection. Randle is five years older than JJJ, but is that enough to erase three first-rounders from the deal?
Another deal to look at is the Los Angeles Clippers sending Ivica Zubac and Kobe Brown to the Indiana Pacers for Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, two first-round picks, and one second-round pick. This year’s first had protections, but ended up giving the Clippers the fifth pick in the upcoming draft.
Zubac is 29 and can anchor Indiana’s defense, but has never been an All-Star like Randle. The key for Connelly will be to target the right teams that have enough assets to send a few firsts out like they’re nothing, and an incentive to win now instead of sitting back and waiting for the potential of future draft picks.
Could the Charlotte Hornets, who won a surprising 44 games this season, supercharge their rebuild and trade two first-round picks and salary floatsam for Randle’s services? Could the Blazers send one or two of their picks from the Milwaukee Bucks in the Damian Lillard trade over to try to insert Randle and see what happens when Lillard returns next season? Are the Golden State Warriors interested in a 6’9” power forward who can’t shoot for one last ride with Steph Curry?
Probably not, but it will be up to Connelly to sift through and find good value. An offer of two first-round picks and some salary castaways isn’t impossible.
Rudy Gobert is a little easier to sell. He’s a four-time DPOY and will be a Hall of Famer when his career ends. He will also raise the floor of an already good team looking to tighten its defense just enough to fight for a finals appearance.
Teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers, Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets, and the Warriors could see Rudy as the last piece of the puzzle to either give their aging superstars one more run at a title or stabilize their young cores and step up from first-round fodder to conference-finals contenders. Rudy always has his detractors, and losing him will affect the Timberwolves more than Randle. But they can’t turn down two future firsts for a 33-year-old center.
The best and most painful avenue to acquire future assets would be to sell high on Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels. McDaniels owned the Denver Nuggets in the first round series, and Naz Reid has turned himself into one of the most skilled big men in the league. Naz should attract two first-round picks in his sleep, while McDaniels could mirror the New York Knicks giving up five first-round picks for Mikal Bridges. Those deals could have bigger ramifications for the Wolves and cause a larger step back in the interim, but it would clear the way for Edwards to want out if they aren’t competitive.
Tim Connelly needs to be looking at every avenue to improve Minnesota’s roster. The fans will want a big swing, but it may be better to keep the powder dry and make moves for the future. You never know when dealing for first-round picks if that pick will be 1 or 30.
If you’re trading with a good, intelligent team, odds are you just got yourself two number 28 picks. But if you identify the right sucker, a first could turn into anything. Then, if it ends up in the lottery, anything can happen.
Trading Randle and Gobert for three to four future first-round picks might be the best way out of the second round. A team with Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, Ayo Dosunmu, Donte DiVincenzo (when healthy), Terrence Shannon Jr., and Joan Beringer, plus a few more bench shooters, and the return for Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert could be enough to keep the Wolves relevant for the next few years while building a brighter future.
