I’m thinking more and more that if a trade is done with MIN, it’s going to be Russell and a pick.
I get that Morey wasn’t excited about Russell a month ago, with visions of Dame and Beal dancing in his head. But DLo checks the boxes that PHI needs most. He’s a PG who is a good passer to facilitate an offense, a decent shooter, and you can put the ball in his hands in the final two minutes. His defensive weaknesses are minimized on the Sixers, who have several good defenders. As Morie tries to save face from playing this situation so badly, it doesn’t hurt either that Russell is a well known name in LA and NY, and was recently an All Star.
On the MIN side, trading Russell keeps the team financially flexible, with only two max deals. We would eventually need a true PG, but the NBA is full of talented PG’s right now, and we can sell Simmons on the idea of having a larger role play-making. The issue of Russell’s friendship with Towns is minimized, by bringing in another of Towns friends who is a better player.
For Simmons, MIN isn’t California, but he comes to a lower stress city without the media on his butt. His pal Towns would welcome him. Most Wolves fans would be thrilled to have him here, and he’d be lauded for bringing defense to a team that has been so bad at it. If the team improves (and it should regardless, simply through the growth from young players), Simmons will get a lot of the credit, since the Wolves fanbase has seen so little success.
I have not changed my mind that Russell is worth his max contract, but there is plenty of reasons to be wary of Simmons’ as well. Both are better fits on each others’ team. I think a deal with Russell and an unprotected 1st is more realistic than the multi-player, multi-pick predictions we see so often.
