Should the Wolves Target Jazz Point Guard Mike Conley?

On today’s show, Dane is joined by Jace Frederick from the Pioneer Press to discuss the recent report from Shams Charania of The Athletic noting the Minnesota Timberwolves’ interest in trading for Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley, and how a Conley for D’Angelo Russell swap could salvage the D-Lo salary slot we’ve been talking about. Also related to Conley, Dane and Jace go through Rudy Gobert and Conley’s three years together with the Jazz, detailing how chemistry took a few years to develop, as illustrated by Utah’s offense steadily improving year-over-year.

Additionally, Dane and Jace get into 2022 Timberwolves first round draft pick Walker Kessler, both through the lens of Kessler’s impact on Monday night against the Wolves and through the lens of how this Minnesota team would be in a different place had they not traded Kessler for Gobert.

Full topic list:

• Would Jazz CEO of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge even be interested in trading with the Wolves given that Utah has Minnesota’s 2023 first round pick? If he did, what would a Conley for Russell trade look like?
• What is the important of preserving the salary slot that Russell currently occupies? What would happen if the team let him walk to another team in free agency this summer?
• How were Conley and Gobert able to develop such a strong chemistry in Utah? What basketball factors went into that, including the players around them and the style of offense they played? Is there a potential for that to grow with Russell or Anthony Edwards?
• Kessler kills the Wolves. How does it change the view of the Gobert trade six months after the fact?
• Previewing the upcoming slate of games against the Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets.

(If you can’t access the Spotify player above, click here to listen to the latest episode on Spotify).

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