The Minnesota Timberwolves had a busy Monday night, trading Julius Randle to the Brooklyn Nets and re-signing Ayo Dosunmu. But they didn’t make the big splash that some Wolves fans wanted as they watched the Milwaukee Bucks trade Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat.
The final cost to bring Antetokounmpo to Miami made it clear this was not a trade the Timberwolves should have made.
But it doesn’t prevent president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, from the aftershock of sitting out. Those tremors began on Tuesday morning when ESPN’s Tim McMahon said, “The NBA vultures are swirling” around Anthony Edwards and Brian Windhorst drove the point home that Monday’s moves won’t be enough to alleviate the pressure Connelly faces this offseason.
“If you were to say, who’s next [to get traded] after Giannis, we would have said Ant and that this trade happened the exact same time as [the Randle trade] is fascinating,” Windhorst said Monday night. “You know, Ant was really…just been frustrated since Towns got traded at how he gets double teamed. And, you know, that was a big challenge…the Wolves had to deal with – their point guard situation.
“…I assume that’s what their investment in Ayo is about. But they have to do something this offseason about addressing the Ant double team situation, especially knowing that you may not have [Donte DiVicenzo] and instead, his offseason begins by – and I don’t think Ant was the biggest Julius Randle fan – but I think it’s more about Randle…being traded in a salary dump.”
Tim Connelly must find a way to take pressure off Anthony Edwards
Trading Randle and re-signing Dosunmu were two of the biggest items on Connelly’s to-do list this offseason. But the issue of finding someone to take pressure off Edwards remains. As Windhorst mentioned, DiVincenzo is expected to miss most of the 2026-27 season after tearing his Achilles tendon during last year’s playoff run and the Wolves need someone defenses have to pay attention to in order to free up Edwards.
So far, the answer seems to be addition by subtraction. Randle put up decent numbers with the Wolves, averaging 20.0 points per game with 6.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists over his two seasons in Minnesota. But he also became a black hole at times, choosing to back down defenders and take ill-fated shots that led to misses or turnovers.
The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski reported on Monday night that the Wolves will promote Naz Reid into the starting lineup to replace Randle and Jaden McDaniels will have an increased role. But unless either player takes a massive leap to stardom, it’s likely teams will continue throwing everything they can to stop Edwards.
The bigger issue is that while Connelly gained a $33.3 million trade exception in the Randle deal, Krawczynski suggested the Wolves may not use it.
Even if they do, Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor suggested that Derrick White, a pass-first point guard who averaged a career-high 16.5 points per game, could be the target.
O’Connor’s other suggestions, including Trey Murphy, Jrue Holiday, Dejounte Murray and Myles Turner, also don’t fix the biggest problem as a consistent offensive threat alongside Ant. With Kyrie Irving unlikely to be traded by the Dallas Mavericks, legitimate options are already running out. And with Antetokounmpo out of Milwaukee, the hourglass has been turned by those covering the NBA to see when Edwards asks out.
Connelly has lauded the Wolves “sub-26” core as the answer to their problems. But it’s an awfully big bet on McDaniels and Reid to be the players to draw attention away from Edwards.
With those unknowns, Connelly needs to bring in someone who can take pressure away from their star before he decides to follow Antetokounmpo’s path to a better situation.
