A little over four years ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Philadelphia 76ers completed the Kevin Love-Andrew Wiggins trade. The Sixers made out like bandits acquiring Alexey Shved, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, and a 2015 first-round pick (Jahlil Okafor). The Cavaliers got a championship out of the deal, and the Timberwolves have gotten (at the time of this writing) exactly 6,600 points from Andrew Wiggins… and zero playoff appearances. What’s next for these franchises?
Let’s start with where they’re at.
For starters, Tom Thibodeau gambled that recollecting his greatest hits would help Minnesota go platinum, and all he got was a mixtape from Jimmy Butler. It didn’t work out, so he shipped him (and Justin Patton) to the City of Brotherly Love for Robert Covington, Dario Saric, and a 2022 second rounder. Over the next two seasons (and barring a trade), the Timberwolves are going to shell out roughly $160 million to Jeff Teague, Andrew Wiggins, Robert Covington, KAT, and Gorgui Dieng.*
*Assuming that Jeff Teague opts into his $19 million player option next offseason; does not include Robert Covington’s non-guaranteed salary for the 2019-2020 season.
TL:DR: That’s a lot of money to be paying for a lottery-bound team.
Despite LeBron James departing (again), the Cavaliers’ cap situation isn’t much better. Koby Altman will likely get George Hill and J.R. Smith’s non-guaranteed contracts off the books next offseason – if they don’t trade either before then – but they’re going to be shelling out roughly $122.6 million to Tristan Thompson, George Hill, J.R. Smith, and Kevin Love regardless.
Add those numbers up and the Cavaliers and the Timberwolves are a combined 5-19; with four of those wins “coming from” the Timberwolves.
There could be a potential fix – a re-do of the aforementioned trade the two franchises made.
It’s rare that blockbuster trades happen in the NBA. It’s even rarer for not one but two franchises to hit the reset button with the same two players involved. However, it makes a lot of sense for both sides.
When the Cavs traded for Kevin Love, they were in championship mode. LeGM was back, and everything was on the table. Cleveland couldn’t wait around for Wiggins to develop, so he was moved for a better shot at a championship. The Cavaliers achieved their goal once and made it to the Finals in four straight seasons.
Now, they’ll be lucky to make it back there in the next four seasons.
The Timberwolves drafted Lauri Markannen and had the up-and-coming Zach LaVine on the wings. Same story – the Timberwolves couldn’t wait around for either player to develop, so they shipped them out along with Kris Dunn for a known commodity – Jimmy Butler. Now that the dust is settled, they get to watch Zach LaVine average 27.4 points per game and highlights of Kris Dunn and Lauri Markannen until they create new ones when they both return from injury.
It’s time for a reset.
Butler was the first step in resetting the culture. Wiggins is next.
To Wiggins’ credit, he’s quietly converting 39.6% of his three-point attempts (5.3 per game) and is shooting 80% from the charity stripe; both career highs. The 41% field goal percentage is a bit concerning, but his percentages from other areas of the floor suggest they’ll get back up close to his career 44.6 FG%. That doesn’t excuse his career 18.2% of FGA from 16<3 (field goals attempted greater than 16 feet but inside the arc) or his 16.2% of FGA from 10-16 feet.
Kevin Love is currently out recovering from surgery on his left foot, but he was averaging 19.0 points per game on putrid .323/.292/.818 shooting splits. He hasn’t shot this poorly since the 2012-13 season in Minnesota where he finished with .352/.217/.704 shooting splits. The performance can likely be attributed to his current injury. He’s a career 37.0% shooter from distance and holds a 47.7% from the floor.
Why hasn’t Thibs called Koby Altman yet?
The deal can’t officially happen until late January due to Love’s extension he signed over the summer with the Cavaliers. Time is the only factor really.
Cleveland is already blaming their rough start to the season on Collin Sexton, a rookie who was placed in an impossible situation. Meanwhile J.R. Smith has publicly asked for a trade…
Reporter: "Are you hoping for a trade [from the Cavs]?"
J.R. Smith: "Yeah." pic.twitter.com/SJNB0JRB8L
— Jordan Heck (@JordanHeckFF) November 1, 2018
…while shooting 38% from the floor. Collin Sexton is averaging more PPG than Tristan Thompson… coming off the bench.
Kevin Love signed a deal with the Cavaliers on a promise that the Cavs would be a competitive team. He can get his wish going back to where it all began.
A starting five of Rose/Teague-Okogie (yes I’m serious) -Covington-Love-KAT with a bench of Jones/Teague-Jones/Teague-Deng-Saric-Tolliver is a solid rotation if Thibs believed in them; so, instead, the rotation is Rose-Okogie-Covington-Love-KAT with the leftover eight minutes split up between Jones, Teague, Deng, and Tolliver.
(In all seriousness Love’s 11.3 career rebounds per game average would only strengthen Minnesota’s currently sixth-ranked team rebounds per game average and open up the offense more than Wiggins ever did).
Cleveland would be able to trot out a decent starting 5 of Sexton-Hood-Wiggins-Osman-Nance/Thompson with Hill-Clarkson-Korver-Dekker-Nance/Thompson. The youth movement would be embraced, and the race for your favorite Duke prospect would be on.
In this one-for-one deal, it’s a win-win.