FanPost

A blockbuster trade that may make the Wolves championship contenders.

With the way the season has gone, it looks inevitable that the Wolves will snap their playoff drought this season. Not only that, but look to be hosting the first round, and potentially even with a better record than the San Antonio Spurs. We have a great starting five, a potential MVP candidate in Jimmy Butler, and a guy in Karl-Anthony Towns that should probably be an all star. The team is stocked from top to bottom in real NBA players that play their roles great. Yet, it's hard to imagine us getting to the Conference Finals, let alone winning the whole thing. However I believe there may be the perfect opportunity to push this team over the top and become a legitimate contender for the 2018 NBA title.

The Memphis Grizzlies find themselves in a bit of peril. The days of them being a playoff team seem to be a distant memory, and with their 2019 1st round pick only being top 6 protected, it is probably in their best interest to start tanking immediately. They have two former All stars, who are now probably past their peak, and can no longer be the main guys on a title contending team. The Minnesota Timberwolves can actually offer a fairly decent offer to acquire both Marc Gasol and Mike Conley. On the Wolves, they would be the 3rd and 4th options. The wolves would double the amount of All stars they have on the team, they would arguably have the most star studded roster in the entire NBA.

The Trade

Minnesota Timberwolves acquire: Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Tyreke Evans

Memphis Grizzlies acquire: Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng, Tyus Jones, Cole Aldrich, Minnesota's 1st round pick in 2018 and 2020.

Atlanta Hawks acquire: Oklahoma City's 1st round pick in 2018.

The Atlanta end of the trade is included as they currently own a lottery protected 1st round pick from Minnesota; because of this the Wolves cannot trade a future 1st round pick until 1st round pick in 2023; (it becomes 2020 once the regular season ends, but to make this trade before the deadline the pick must be reacquired). By reacquiring that pick, two first rounders can be sent to Memphis. Atlanta would observe this and realize that acquiring the OKC pick from Minnesota is basically upgrading the pick for free.

For Memphis they get to fully restart their rebuild around Wiggins, as well as good young players like Jones, Dieng, as well as their own young players. They will draft in the top five the next two seasons at least, as well as having late 1st rounders from Minnesota. It still seems like not quite enough for Memphis, but probably is the smartest thing they can do for their franchise long term. They may never make the playoffs again with their current core, as they let a lot of it walk in the offseason anyway. The sooner a rebuild starts, the sooner they can contend in the playoffs again.

For the Wolves they are the big winners in this trade. They give up quite a bit in this deal, and basically lock themselves into this current window with not much flexibility for the future. They will only have one first round pick over the next three seasons, and won't have any real flexibility to add anyone in free agency. With all that said they would possess a starting five that can revival the Golden State Warriors, and would have a deeper bench than them. We could play Conley on Curry, Butler on Klay, Kat on KD, and Gasol on Draymond. We would either start Teague or Evans at SG, with the other acting as the sixth man. Taj Gibson would move into Gorgui Dieng's role on the bench, and Jamal Crawford would become a luxury scorer off the bench. It is by no means a perfect fit, but we should be able to hide our mismatches by the virtue of having an entire starting lineup of All Star players.

The Depth chart would look something like

PG: Mike Conley/ Jeff Teague/ Aaron Brooks

SG: Tyreke Evans/ Jeff Teague/ Jamal Crawford

SF: Jimmy Butler/ Nemanja Bjelica/ Shabazz Muhammad

PF: Karl-Anthony Towns/ Taj Gibson/ Nemanja Bjelica

C: Marc Gasol/ Taj Gibson/ Justin Patton

I listed Evans as the starter just because I'd expect him to only play SG whether he starts or comes off the bench, where Teague or Conley would float between both guard positions depending on who's on the court. The Wolves not only improve the talent of their roster, but now have the flexibility to match up with anyone, they can go small with KAT at C, or could even go super big with Butler at SG and Bjelica at SF. They can space the floor with Gasol, as well as bully in the paint.

I gave up basically every asset Minnesota has, but would expect they try to make the trade without Tyus in the deal, and maybe with only one first round pick. I chose just to include every asset to try to appease everybody. Even though I find this deal reasonably possible there are a lot of factors outside of on court reasons for this trade to fall through. Minnesota would be mortgaging all of their future flexibility, as well as going into the luxury tax for the foreseeable future, which is not a place owner Glen Taylor has shown a willingness to be. Memphis' GM Chris Wallace is fighting for his job, and it's hard to imagine him signing off on a trade that's pro tanking. Wiggins probably isn't enough of a talent to sell ownership on to keep his job. Because of that he may just choose to stand pat and hope against hope they find their way into the 8th seed. Regardless I believe this is the right move for all franchises involved, and us Minnesota sports fans may have the chance to see two sports franchises compete for a championship in the same season.