As much as players may say they try to block out the rumors and noise leading up to the trade deadline, it can't help but creep into their minds.
That especially applies to a young team like the Timberwolves, who features players who haven't gone through a lot of trade deadlines.
To hear Karl-Anthony Towns talk about it, there was a sense of unease in the locker room, and perhaps that contributed to the Wolves' 128-108 loss to Dallas on Wednesday.
"We all know that we may not all be together again," Towns said. "It's always tough every trade deadline, especially here. It's almost like you're guaranteed to not have some stability, or to have change. So you just never know. You never know who the odd man out is."
In the case of last year, it was almost everybody who was the odd man out as President Gersson Rosas dealt all but three regular rostered players at the deadline. Although such a drastic change is highly unlikely this time, there are always moves big or small, that can affect any player.
Or as Juancho Hernangomez bluntly put it: "We know we are the worst team in the NBA. So if they change players, it's normal."
The Wolves showed why they are 10-34 when in the second half Dallas took control of a game the Wolves led by 13 in the first quarter.
After one of the Wolves' best defensive players, Josh Okogie, was a late scratch because of potential COVID exposure, rookie Jaden McDaniels assumed the task of guarding Luka Doncic. McDaniels, who multiple teams have asked about in trade scenarios, more than held his own. Doncic had just 15 points on 6-of-16 shooting. However, the Wolves were powerless to stop Kristaps Porzingis, who had 29 points and nine rebounds. Towns had 22 for the Wolves while Anthony Edwards shot 9 of 22 for 29 points, which he compiled in the first and fourth quarters while going scoreless in the second and third.
