
It's officially speculation season (Szn?) in the NBA, with the finals wrapped up and the condensed offseason primed to deliver the draft in a few weeks as well as free agency and a number of trades.
Nobody loves speculation quite like people who talk about sports for a living (unless it's the people who listen to the people who talk about sports for a living), and since I guess I fit into BOTH categories I listened with interest to Zach Lowe's recent ESPN podcast on which Bill Simmons was a guest.
These are two guys who could probably take up permanent residence inside ESPN's Trade Machine, and their offseason podcast was full of dueling banjos style deals.
Naturally, a few of them involved the Wolves since 1) They have the No. 1 pick and could very well trade it and 2) President Gersson Rosas hasn't been shy about making moves already in his tenure.
None of the deals they suggested should be treated as news — they weren't reported via sources but rather conjured up as deals that might make sense.
Nevertheless: I thought three trades they constructed involving the Timberwolves were interesting because they illustrate three realistic trade types for the Wolves. That is to say: they are illustrative of directions the Wolves could go while holding a significant asset in the No. 1 overall pick even in a year where there isn't a sure-fire star at the top of the draft.
So let's take a look at all three deals — and deal types:
*A somewhat "boring" deal with an eye toward the future: Simmons suggested that the Wolves could swap picks with the Warriors (who have the No. 2 pick), and that in exchange for that move they could get Golden State to change the protection on the 2021 first-round pick Minnesota owes as part of the Andrew Wiggins/D'Angelo Russell swap.