NBA Trade Rumors: Timberwolves Looking to Add a “Win-Now” Player Alongside Karl-Anthony Towns

The Minnesota Timberwolves won the draft lottery after getting the #1 overall pick. They already have an exciting core of young players, so the addition of another top prospect could make them a dangerous team in the coming years. But now, the Wolves have said that they don’t want to wait. They want to win right now.

According to Kevin O’Connor from The Ringer, the Timberwolves are looking to trade their pick to guarantee immediate success.

“Executives around the NBA say the Timberwolves prefer to trade down or out of this pick to bring in a win-now player to help Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell,” O’Connor wrote. “If they stay at no. 1, (Anthony) Edwards brings a scoring skill set that would fit nicely in the backcourt next to Russell.”

The best scenario for the Timberwolves?

Although the Wizards are excited to pair up Bradley Beal with the soon-to-return John Wall, a trade cannot be completely off the table. If the Timberwolves can bring in Beal, they would have an All-Star caliber big three. D’Angelo Russell, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Beal would be a nightmare for any defense in the league.

Along with the #1 overall pick, the Wolves would have to give up a couple of young assets as well in order to pull off this trade. James Johnson will have to accept his player option to be included and the Wolves will also have to throw in young players like Jarrett Culver and Josh Okogie.

A more realistic scenario

There have been many rumors surrounding New Orleans Pelicans star Jrue Holiday. Contending teams are interested in trading for him, and the Wolves could throw in their hat in the ring too. Although Holiday doesn’t bring in the same firepower as Beal, he is excellent on defense and is the best guard defender in the league according to Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard.

The Wolves should be able to trade down in this scenario and get the #13 overall pick along with Holiday. In exchange, they could offer James Johnson, a young player like Jarrett Culver, and the #1 overall pick.

In case the 76ers are looking for a rest

After playing three seasons together, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid could not bring any success to the Philadelphia 76ers. After they fired coach Brett Brown, there are rumors that they will now blow up the team and rebuild again. In case they are, the Wolves would love to pounce on the situation.

Adding Ben Simmons to the team would help them out majorly on both ends of the floor. Similar to the Beal trade proposal, the Wolves would have to add young players to sweeten this deal for the 76ers.

These are the three trades that are possible and the ones the Wolves could be going after. They would obviously love to have Devin Booker paired along with his close friends KAT and DLo, but the Suns won’t give up their franchise player, especially after that Bubble performance.

It will be interesting to see if the Wolves can bring in a marquee player or if they will settle for a top prospect instead.