Trade deadline: Buyers, sellers or a little of both?

[Klomp]

We've talked a lot about the roster situation and what types of tweaks need to be made. We've also discussed contract situations of some of the key players. We also talked going into last offseason about whether this front office and new ownership would be aggressive or conservative, and I think most of us were surprised at the time. So put it all together, and what do you see the Timberwolves doing in the month-plus sprint to the trade deadline in early February?

[Danimals]

We need to turn Dlo, Naz, and Nowell into better fitting pieces, both on court and salary wise. With our biggest needs being a starting point guard who excels at point of attack defense,3point shooting, and keeping the ball moving. Additionally a reliable scorer off the bench would be great, but I’d be willing to give those minutes Rivers and focus on a defensive identity with Ant and Kat eating up nearly all of the offensive usage.

[Zonarosa]

i have no idea. i'd guess any move they made would be dependent on how they feel about the soon-to-be group of free agents we've got. do they move reid and/or nowell if they think they'll just bolt? i'd say reid's likely played himself into a position to have multiple suitors, but i can't say the same for nowell. he'd certainly get a bump, but will his inconsistent deep ball keep the cost down?

who knows what their plans for russell are. my personal preference is to just be done with him, and if they can get some kind of compensation back i'd consider shipping him out rather than cut him loose since it's just dead space. at the same time, i can't see them moving him and leaving mclaughlin as the only true option there. unless they're comfortable running an edwards/rivers backcourt for the remainder of the year.

dunno. i guess at this point i'm just expecting the unexpected.

[Calinks]

I don't know what wiggle room we got but I think we have seen that this team does not have enough pieces that fit. We got to bring in smarts, grit, and rebounding. We got a lot of talent but not a lot of those key things. We got too much finesse, I don't know who we can move to bring in what we need though.

[shangrila]

DLo needs to go. Nowell might as well. Reid should too if you can't get him to sign an extension or think he's going to leave.

Basically, this season is done. Maybe we scrape into the playoffs but that shouldn't be the concern. We need to start prepping for the future, whether that's just next season or beyond that. Either way we can't afford to send out meaningful future assets and should probably try to recoup a few.

The rest of this season should be about gelling, working out what we're missing and making a plan moving forward. I honestly don't know if anyone can tell whether this experiment works yet and given what we gave up we need to see it through, for better or worse.

[Note30]

I honestly would be surprised if we made significant moves at the trade deadline.

[younggunsmn]

We don't have much to sell barring some kind of blockbuster, and no picks left to buy with.
What does that leave us, shuffling deck chairs?

We have 2 young wings we don't want to trade, 2 40 mil+ bigs, 2 minimum guys who will be Unrestriced FA's, one 30 mil expiring, 2 8-9 mil bench players, and minimum contracts.

Of all that, D-Lo's expiring to me is the most likely to be moved and fetch an asset back by taking on a worse contract(s).
Upgrading PG was the most pressing need, and it's still the most pressing need. A longshot move could be sending out Prince or Anderson for a small asset.

I look at guys like Markaanen and Huerter who are taking big leaps after a change in scenery and wonder if we could find and steal one of those guys, a young veteran not getting enough touches/PT and ready to make a leap.

[minimus]

One thing I didn't expect are injuries which lead to this first half of season to forget. I wonder whether we should make soft reset NOW by trading DLo, Reid and Nowell and acquiring PG.

[Danimals]

I’d also try trading Dlo and Naz for a terrible contract and any assets we could get.

[MN7725]

I don't see what option they have other than trading Russell for a longer contract of a player that another team wants to move off of for an expiring but MAYBE would fit better on Wolves

Gordon Hayward?
He at least was starters in Utah with Gobert for three seasons already

[Domejandro]

I don't think much is going to happen at the Trade Deadline. The team (effectively) has zero assets to play with.

[Mamba4Goat]

I’d put good money on the Wolves making no trade deadline moves and instead waiving Knight instead of Forbes (as we all try to make it make sense) and signing Pat Bev after he gets traded and bought out.

[shrink]

In broad terms, the Wolves have several issues with trades:

1. They can’t afford to retain Naz. They can’t pay him to be their third center when he gets UFA offers to be a starter.

2. If they don’t trade DLo, they either need to give him another contract or they lose his salary slot for a replacement FA.

3. If they don’t trade DLo, they have a small pool of trade targets because they can’t match salaries. Besides SloMo and Prince, who have important roles on the team, the Wolves next largest salary is Wendell Moore Jr at $2.3 mil.

Even under normal circumstances, I think MIN would lean towards keeping their team together, to give the team more time to get comfortable playing with Gobert and all the new players. The Rudy trade was a longterm, all-in move. But even though the roster needs a shake up, the CBA issues severely limits the trades MIN can do. I hope for a trade, but I don’t expect one.

[IceManBK1]

Package Reid, novell and either McDaniels or Prince for a star PF like John Collins or Siakam and a shooter maybe. Let Gobert come off the bench.

Dlo
Edwards
Prince or McDaniels(whoever stays)
Star PF
Towns

Gobert off the bench.

[BlacJacMac]

Package Reid, novell and either McDaniels or Prince for a star PF like John Collins or Siakam and a shooter maybe. Let Gobert come off the bench.

Dlo
Edwards
Prince or McDaniels(whoever stays)
Star PF
Towns

Gobert off the bench.

Why would Atlanta or Toronto do that?

[shangrila]

Package Reid, novell and either McDaniels or Prince for a star PF like John Collins or Siakam and a shooter maybe. Let Gobert come off the bench.

Dlo
Edwards
Prince or McDaniels(whoever stays)
Star PF
Towns

Gobert off the bench.

Why would Atlanta or Toronto do that?

Why do any of you engage with that guy? His trades are consistently terrible and nonsensical with little, if any, reasoning.

[minimus]

Package Reid, novell and either McDaniels or Prince for a star PF like John Collins or Siakam and a shooter maybe. Let Gobert come off the bench.

Dlo
Edwards
Prince or McDaniels(whoever stays)
Star PF
Towns

Gobert off the bench.

Why would Atlanta or Toronto do that?

Why do any of you engage with that guy? His trades are consistently terrible and nonsensical with little, if any, reasoning.

Apart of reasoning, I find misspelling our players names is part of trolling. I mean if you post here terrible trade idea AND constantly misspells players names it must be trolling.

[Klomp]

We don't have much to sell barring some kind of blockbuster, and no picks left to buy with.
What does that leave us, shuffling deck chairs?

When I'm talking selling, I'm referring to trading guys for primarily draft capital or young pieces in return. Buying would signal combining multiple "smaller" pieces for one more significant piece. The likely targets in both categories would be Reid and/or Nowell.

[Guest84]

Looking at our roster...it's hard for me to see us being buyers. Even sellers I feel like would be hard for us at the deadline. Every game I feel like the entire roster loses some value.

Which leads to...what are our players even worth? The only player who I feel has actually increased their value is Naz.

I'm thinking that it'll prob be a quiet deadline for us. The only move could be Finch getting released but even that prob won't happen until the offseason. Much like any other move.

I started looking at teams around the league and I just don't see any potential trade partners during the season. In the offseason, can you finesse a team like Charlotte, Portland, Phx, Tor, or NY to take Gobert in the offseason?

If a team like Bos, GS, Phx, Atl be willing to make a deal for Kat if they miss the finals? Say some sort of combination for Poole/Kaminga/Wiseman, Jaylen Brown, Ayton/Bridges, Murray/Collins?? Who knows...this is just me thinking out loud. I personally would love to acquire a player like Simons from Port.

[wolves_89]

One thing to watch in the lead up to the trade deadline are the potential extensions for DLO, Naz, and Nowell. I could see Connelly making another run at each of them. If they can be extended for a reasonable amount, I think the Wolves sign them. If not I could see them being made available.

One area I'd like to see the Wolves improve is at PG. I think this team would really benefit from finding a starting caliber version of McLaughlin (basically McLaughlin plus 5 inches in height).