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The Minnesota Timberwolves made a huge bet that going big would be the key to becoming a contender. Thus far, the Wolves season has been a mess. But it goes well beyond the Rudy Gobert trade.

Midway through Minnesota's home loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night, D'Angelo Russell had an embarrassing gaffe. During a free throw attempt, Russell left the floor. Following the free throw, the Suns brought the ball up and realized they were playing 5-on-4.

Phoenix missed the initial shot, but got an easy offensive rebound. By the time Russell ran back on the floor, Torrey Craig was hitting a wide-open three-pointer off the second chance opportunity.

This mistake, and the loss, were the latest in a rough stretch for Minnesota. Anthony Edwards has been critical of the team's spacing when Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns are in the game together. Towns criticized Edwards' eating habits, and following the loss to Phoenix, Towns spoke about the Wolves needing to find joy in playing again.

Via Darren Wolfson/Skor North

Never been a big fan of Russell’s game. He doesn’t play hard all that often and disappears.

I wouldn’t of brought in Gobert for that price either. He’s gotten some dpoy awards but nothing about him seems to warrant a Ben Wallace like 3 awards in a row, he’s soft and has no offensive game to speak of. I’m just glad it was the wolves that made that trade.

hes still in his prime but he doesnt fit with the young guns and their gen-z mindset, needs to go somewhere like a utah jazz or miami heat to find his niche again.

The trade board laughed at the Warriors for trading this guy for Andrew Wiggins and only getting one first-round pick in return. So far this season, Wiggins has been the Warriors’ second-best player.

Can't say this is surprising.

Nate the Great wrote:The trade board laughed at the Warriors for trading this guy for Andrew Wiggins and only getting one first-round pick in return. So far this season, Wiggins has been the Warriors’ second-best player.

Definitely looked lopsided when it first happened but Bob Myers is the best in the game.

Time for trade KAT for Kevin Durant. Honestly, make both teams better.

Gobert is the problem, book it.

That trade Minny made with Utah was horrid. Total tire fire.

Four years ago, Towns said playing for Thibodeau wasn’t fun after making the Playoffs and winning 47 games. He’s saying the same now.

They should’ve let Sachin Gupta finish what he and Rosas started. They did really well last year. They’re stuck with Connelly now that he’s a part-owner too.

I just watched that stretch and you can hear the coaches screaming "DLO! DLO!" much louder than the PA system gets picked up on the broadcast.

Had they "only" given up three firsts and not the whole farm, they could probably flip Towns and the rest of the picks for Durant, today.

Cassius wrote:I just watched that stretch and you can hear the coaches screaming "DLO! DLO!" much louder than the PA system gets picked up on the broadcast.

Had they "only" given up three firsts and not the whole farm, they could probably flip Towns and the rest of the picks for Durant, today.

They probably didn’t have to give that much to get him either, should have waited it out and let the Jazz suffer a bit, they definitely overspent to get him

The Gobert trade doesn't entirely make sense.

Towns who is a great inside scorer basically has to play stretch big full time with Gobert in.

Towns cannot guard any forward in the NBA.

Edwards is a beast at attacking the hoop and now he's got a clogged paint.

They were a great run n gun team last year, but now are super slow.

After years of being bad they were finally good and then shook up the deck. They should have stayed pat and let Edward's and McDaniels develop hoping that would get them further.

When the Warriors traded for him, DLo has star potential written all over him. A possible lead guard who plays a controlled game on offense. There was hope that Ws would be able to make him play hard and play some D. DLo is probably the only guy who played for the Ws yet still didn't change a bit, neither playing hard nor playing decent D.

I think Bob Myer and Kerr saw through all that and they likely were laughing their behind off when trading him for Wiggins and a high pick (Kuminga).