Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
Wolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly came to Minnesota and assembled a talented front office to navigate situations like these.
You can keep up with the latest trade deadline reporting from around the league involving the Timberwolves at our trade rumor tracker. It is also pinned to the top of the Canis Hoopus homepage.
The 2023 NBA Trade Deadline is one week from tomorrow — February 9 at 2 PM CT — and the Minnesota Timberwolves have two key questions they need to answer in between now and then:
1) Is trading D’Angelo Russell an option with the way he’s playing?
2) What return makes sense in a Naz Reid trade?
Before I provide my answers, it’s important to understand the context of the Wolves’ current position.
Minnesota is 27-26, the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference
Karl-Anthony Towns (right calf strain) or Jordan McLaughlin (left calf strain) do not have timetables to return, making a return prior to the All-Star Break (Feb. 17 through Feb. 22) unlikely
The Timberwolves cannot trade a first-round pick, but has three second-round picks to use (2023 via New York, and their own in 2028 and 2029)
All 15 roster spots and both two-way slots are filled, so the team has no available spot to accept more players than they send out unless they waive a player first
Towns cannot be traded until July 7, 2023 and has a 10% trade kicker
Minnesota has an estimated $3,069,493 in space below the luxury tax line, per Spotrac. I’d expect them to avoid paying the luxury tax this year.
The Wolves have a $4.4 million trade exception to use, but it cannot be combined with a player in a trade. It’s unlikely they use it unless they trade Russell and have more than $4.4 million in luxury tax space after the trade.
Wolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly has made a trade leading up to the deadline in every year he’s been a lead executive except for in 2019, when his Denver Nuggets team finished 54-28.
Here’s a look at the salary cap table:
DraftKings Odds
Our friends over at DraftKings Sportsbook have plenty of ways to get in on the action before they make any moves at the deadline.
The Timberwolves are...
+7500 to win the Northwest Division
+10000 to win the Western Conference
+20000 to win the NBA Finals
Because of the injury to Towns, DraftKings does not have a listed win total prop or a “to make the playoffs” prop available.
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
Is trading D’Angelo Russell an option with the way he’s playing?
The Wolves pushed all their future chips into the middle when they traded for Rudy Gobert. As a result, they are now in a place where making any type of “seller” trade that can move them down in the standings is off the table. That’s what makes the Russell conversation so interesting.
In the 27 games since December 1, Russell is averaging 20.1 points on 48.6/42.9/90.4 shooting splits, 5.9 assists to 2.7 turnovers, 2.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals across 34.6 minutes per game, in what has unquestionably been the best extended stretch of his NBA career. His 46.1% field goal percentage, 85.4% free throw percentage, 60.0% true shooting percentage, shooting percentage at the rim (68%) and 33.1 minutes per game are all by far career highs in what has been the most efficient offensive season of his eight-year career.
Beyond that, D-Lo is driving winning perhaps better than he ever has during his four-season stint in Minneapolis. He is continually coming up clutch in the second halves of games and developing a much better chemistry with both Anthony Edwards and Gobert.
"We talk to each other every night. We're growing, we're building a good relationship & I hope it keeps getting better."
-Ant on his chemistry with D-Lo.
The Edwards-Russell pairing, net rating by month...
Jan: +7.8
Dec: +1.1
Nov: -5.6 pic.twitter.com/4d7yUa32o5
— Alan Horton (@WolvesRadio) January 30, 2023
While some may make the argument that his trade value is higher now than it was before Towns got injured (a fair point, by the way), I’d counter by asking which acquirable point guard on the market gives the Wolves a better chance to go deeper in the playoffs this season?
Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet, who is likely to opt-out of his deal and become an unrestricted free agent this summer, is likely out of the Timberwolves’ price range both via trade right now and financially via extension given that Edwards and Jaden McDaniels are up for contract extensions after the season.
While Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley would fit nicely alongside Gobert and Edwards because of
his experience next to Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, Jazz CEO Danny Ainge has no incentive to make a deal that could help the Wolves consdering Utah owns Minnesota’s 2023 first-round pick.
With the Miami Heat going on a bit of a run here, the team is “not trying to deal” Kyle Lowry.
Enabling flexibility is going to be important for Minnesota no matter how this plays out.
Chris Paul may be in his last year with the Phoenix Suns, and the same goes for Draymond Green and lead executive Bob Myers with the Golden State Warriors. LeBron James could request a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers if they don’t make another win-now move at the deadline. The Portland Trail Blazers may sell and try again in their perpetual retooling around Damian Lillard. Not to mention, we don’t know how many more years the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George pairing has with the Los Angeles Clippers, and that the Dallas Mavericks roster around Luka Dončić remains questionable at best.
They are in a good position for the next three-to-five years if Edwards and McDaniels continue to develop, and Towns’ prime is what we think it could be. With that in mind, Connelly and Co.’s best course of action may be to keep him for the rest of the season. From there, they can evaluate what salary makes sense to offer him in free agency or facilitate a sign-and-trade — a likely course of action if Russell does not return to Minnesota considering which teams have cap space.
Sign-and-trading Russell could be the best for both parties. D-Lo continuing to play well would give the Timberwolves their best chance to succeed in the playoffs this season and enable his agent to command a salary more commensurate with what Russell feels he’s worth. It would also allow the Wolves to maintain his salary slot beyond this season.
The reality may simply be that there isn’t a move out there that gives this team a shot to improve its +10000 shot to win the West or +20000 odds to take home the Larry O’Brien trophy. And if that’s the case, making a trade just for the sake of making a trade while Russell is playing the best basketball of his career is extremely risky.
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
What return makes sense in a Naz Reid trade?
This is a tough one, simply because Reid’s impact is somewhat context dependent and he may not be the same type of player on another team.
The Wolves are -5.9 points per 100 possessions when the fan favorite is on the floor in 2022-23, per Cleaning the Glass, good for the 23rd percentile league-wide. But that number jumps to -1.3 when he shares the floor with Anthony Edwards and +7.3 (91st percentile) when he plays alongside both Edwards and Jaden McDaniels (626 possessions). In the 333 possessions he’s played without both of them, Minnesota is a -15.3 points per 100, ranking in the second percentile, nearly as bad as it gets.
Reid has seen increased playing time next to Gobert in an effort to get more two big lineups out there to (hopefully) prepare for Towns’ return. Even though Reid is having a tough time shooting the ball (just 23.1% from 3 in January), he has still found success in the dribble hand-off game with Edwards, Russell and Jaylen Nowell, and has created moments like this that transform the energy in the arena:
NAZ REID SENT METU TO THE GRAVEYARDpic.twitter.com/aTi1IP4gzj
— Canis Hoopus (@canishoopus) January 29, 2023
With that said, the former LSU stand-out has often struggled with foul trouble this season and can take himself out of games in which he has a favorable matchup simply because of losing focus off-ball for a split second or failing to maintain verticality when being over-aggressive to block shots. Given he is undersized at 6-9, he can have issues with bigger, bruising centers and has showings where his impact on the glass is limited.
Interested teams reportedly include the Brooklyn Nets, Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers. Those all make sense given their lack of a consistent backup center and would strengthen their five-out units when Nic Claxton, Nikola Jokić and Ivica Zubac are all off the floor, respectively. However, finding a two-team trade that makes sense for both sides with these parties clouds the probability of a deal taking place.
Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reported that Denver is gauging the interest around the league in explosive young guard Bones Hyland, whose contract would match with Reid and costs only $2.3 million next season and $4.2 million in 2024-25. Fischer only listed one potential suitor, the Timberwolves, and mentioned that Connelly is “still considered a big supporter of Hyland.” However, a straight up swap is highly unlikely considering Hyland has two more years of team control and then hits restricted free agency, whereas Reid is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Given that the Wolves can’t send a protected first-round pick (likely close to Hyland’s value) and shouldn’t be moving veterans such as Taurean Prince or Kyle Anderson, it’s hard to find a deal that makes sense.
The same applies for Brooklyn and L.A. The Nets could offer the likes of Yuta Watanabe, who’d help the Wolves’ shooting need, but that’s about it in terms of players they’d be potentially open to parting with in a two-team deal. Similarly, Los Angeles could offer Terance Mann, but Mann’s rookie deal expires this summer and his two-year, $22 million extension kicks in. If Minnesota made that deal, they’d be over the luxury tax next season by a good $8 million, all else held constant. Not to mention the Clippers likely wouldn’t part for Mann in a 1:1 deal.
If Reid is traded, it may make the most sense that he is included in a Russell package and sent to a third team; the Clippers would make sense if they took back Reid and D’Lo, involved a team such as the Jazz to park contracts and lesser picks for salary matching purposes, and Utah sent Conley to Minnesota. But even something like that is unlikely because the Jazz have no incentive to make the Wolves better.
A huge factor in this could be Towns’ health.
Matt Moore of The Action Network reported that potential suitors are calling about Reid, but that “there’s now believe that Wolves will not trade the big man and instead look to sign him to an extension.”
That could signal that the team doesn’t feel comfortable parting with Reid — a reliable rotation presence — if Towns isn’t going to be back soon, even though they also have Nate Knight and Luka Garza. That doesn’t mean the Wolves couldn’t still trade Reid this summer or at a later date, either. He’d actually become a more valuable trade asset with a long-term extension in hand. But, Towns missing another 15-20 could drive more interest for the team to offer Reid a better contract and keep their options open. Even though Connelly told KFAN on Tuesday afternoon that the team’s “full expectation” is for Towns to return and play again this season, having insurance is important.
Time will tell, but getting fair market value for Reid in the current climate, given his contract and which teams are interested in him, is highly unlikely.
Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images
Final Predictions
Neither Russell or Reid is moved at or before the trade deadline and Reid is signed to an extension.
The best way for the Timberwolves to improve their odds at winning a first-round playoff series and making some noise in the second round and beyond is simply by getting healthy.
No All-NBA player from last season has missed as many games as Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns has long been one of the most consistent offensive producers in the NBA and displayed true signs of promise on the defensive end of the floor in a more aggressive scheme last season. Sure, the Wolves only went 9-10 in the 19 games that Towns and Rudy Gobert both played in to start the season. But Minnesota is slowly but surely optimizing Gobert’s impact on both ends of the floor. It’s hard to project exactly where the Timberwolves would be if KAT had played in even 85% of the team’s games this season, but I can comfortably say it’d be in a markedly better place than where they are right now.
Towns and Jordan McLaughlin can help to take this team from potentially frisky to we don’t want to see them in a playoff series. There’s no feasible trade out there on the market that can do that better than simply getting healthy can. Not to mention that the team would have only 25ish games to calibrate a new lineup post-trade that would bring its own growing pains, even before re-integrating Towns.
While the deadline could be a ton of fun around the league, it should probably be a quiet one for the Timberwolves.
Check out DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.
Jack Borman
https://www.canishoopus.com/2023/2/1/23575846/2023-nba-trade-deadline-primer-minnesota-timberwolves-naz-reid-dangelo-russell-key-decisions
By: Jack Borman
Title: NBA Trade Deadline 2023: What to Expect From the Timberwolves
Sourced From: www.canishoopus.com/2023/2/1/23575846/2023-nba-trade-deadline-primer-minnesota-timberwolves-naz-reid-dangelo-russell-key-decisions
Published Date: 02-01-2023
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a NBA hybrid contract?
Players can receive higher salaries through the NBA's hybrid contracts. These contracts allow for a portion of the salary to be added to the team's cap and the remainder is paid directly as a bonus to the player. This allows teams to offer higher salaries while still complying with league salary restrictions. Players are also more likely to sign with teams that offer higher salaries while still being able to comply with league salary restrictions.
What does NBA mean when it says waived?
"Waived" in the NBA is an official release of a player from their team's roster. This can happen for any number of reasons, including salary cap concerns or disciplinary action. The player becomes an unrestricted, free agent after being waived. They can then sign with any other league team. The player is not eligible to participate in the playoffs if they were waived after March 1, 2001.
What is the NBA Draft?
The NBA Draft is an annual event where teams choose eligible players to enter the league. The draft takes place each June and is divided into two rounds with each team receiving one pick. The order of the draft will be determined by the teams' records from previous seasons. The worst team receiving the first and best picks respectively. Teams can choose college or international players between the ages of 19 and 19. This is an essential event for teams as it allows them to acquire a new talent and build their rosters. It's also a great way for players to make the jump from international or college leagues into the NBA.
Which free throw shooter is the best?
The answer to that question is widely debated among basketball fans, but most agree that the best free-throw shooter of all time is Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. This amazing player held the record for most 3-point converts in a single season with an unbelievable 402.
Karl Malone currently holds the record for most free throws made in a career, with 9,787 successful shots. He has also attempted 13,188 free throws, which resulted in a 74.20% success ratio.
What is the NBA salary limit?
The salary cap in the NBA is a set amount that limits the total salary of each team's roster. This limit is determined by the league each year. It's designed to prevent teams from signing multiple high priced players, creating unfair advantages and ensuring parity among teams. For free agents and trades, teams must keep the cap below 50 players. They can surpass it if there are certain exceptions such as signing players with Bird rights or offering contracts with player salaries that count against the cap with the rest being paid out in bonuses. The league has a salary cap that is integral to the league. It helps ensure a level playing field for all teams.
How long does it take to become an NBA superstar?
To become a true professional NBA star, it takes a lot of dedication and time. To become a NBA superstar requires years of hardwork, physical conditioning, skill development, and years of dedication. Most players spend between three- and five years at college learning their skills before they can be drafted. After being drafted, players need to continue their success in the NBA. They must earn a spot on their team and be eligible for All-Star teams. You will need to be more skilled and receive professional guidance from your coaches and trainers in order to do this. The ultimate goal of becoming a NBA superstar is not possible in a few short years. To reach these heights you must be dedicated, committed, and take the time. With the right mindset and determination, however, anyone can reach their goals and become an NBA superstar!
Who was the first to score a basket in the NBA?
Ossie Schectman was an American professional basketball player who scored the first basket in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which would later become the National Basketball Association (NBA). On November 1, 1946, the Toronto Huskies defeated the New York Knickerbockers to score the basket. Schectman's historic first basket opened up the BAA's inaugural season.
Statistics
- Williams would 'likely' accept a deal worth $14-15M/year; Celtics are 'unlikely' to offer such a deal (HoopsHype) (bleacherreport.com)
- Williams would 'likely' accept a deal worth $14-15M/year; Celtics are 'unlikely' to offer such a deal (HoopsHype) (bleacherreport.com)
- The 2013–14 season opened with 92 international players on the opening night rosters, representing 39 countries and over 20% of the league. (en.wikipedia.org)
- As of 2014, 45 percent of its viewers were black, while 40 percent were white, making it the only top North American sport that does not have a white majority audience.[102]As of 2017Democrats than Republicans.[103]Outside (en.wikipedia.org)
- "NBA first-round ratings drop 27 percent, 40 percent since 2017–18". (en.wikipedia.org)
External Links
sbnation.com
basketball-reference.com
- Thomas Bryant Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft Status and more | Basketball-Reference.com
- Dennis Schroder Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft Status and more | Basketball-Reference.com
sports.yahoo.com
- Yahoo Mail, Weather, Search & Videos
- NBA Finals Game 1 has the lowest recorded viewing figures in history.
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How To
How do players of the NBA All-Star Game get chosen?
A combination of current player, media, and fan voting determines which 24 players will compete in the NBA All-Star Game. Fans make up 50 percent of the vote. Media and current players account for 25 percent. Each group's vote counts equally, and all three submit their ballots simultaneously. Each conference picks two guards, two forwards and one centre. The NBA Commissioner can select a replacement player if a player is hurt or unable. The All-Star Game sees the participants compete against each in a predetermined format. The winning team is the one with the most points after four quarters. Each year, the winner team receives an extra donation for their charity foundation.
The All-Star Game also presents a special award to the most valuable player. The All-Star Game is one of the most highly anticipated events in the NBA each year, as it brings together some of the best talents from both conferences. It's an excellent opportunity for fans to watch their favourite players compete against each other and see who will come out on top. The All-Star Game also serves as a showcase for some of the most exciting players in the NBA, and it's an event that fans look forward to every year. With its unique selection process, the NBA All-Star Game is sure to provide an incredible show of talent and entertainment.
