A lot of names have been floated the Minnesota Timberwolves' way in these offseason trade rumors, but there's one name I haven't seen that I feel would make a lot of sense—Toronto Raptors forward Brandon Ingram.
Ingram had a pretty disappointing playoff showing this season, but don't let that fool you. This guy is a professional bucket getter. He's one of the best mid-range assassins in the entire league. He has the length where you can't really contest his shot.
While 3-pointers aren't his preferred method of offense, he's a more than capable shooter from distance as well, shooting 38.2 percent from distance this past season. He's also a really underrated secondary playmaker, averaging five or more assists in four straight seasons before this past year, where it was down to a still respectable 3.7.
The down playoff run may have brought down BI's value to the point where the Wolves could swoop in. Jakob Poeltl's contract is a dump candidate this offseason, and if the Raptors are looking for an upgrade in their center department, an Ingram-for-Gobert swap could benefit both sides.
Swapping Rudy Gobert for Brandon Ingram upgrades the Wolves' offense
While it's a known fact that the Wolves' defense is highly reliant on Rudy Gobert being on the team, sometimes that boost on defense isn't worth the difficulties on offense. Having Gobert on the team makes it harder for guys like Anthony Edwards and Ayo Dosunmu to score at the rim due to his clogging up the paint.
He is also unable to create his own looks, and during playoff time, you need to have multiple players who can create their own offense when the game slows down. Brandon Ingram can do that. Don't let one series fool you; Ingram had some elite playoff moments with the New Orleans Pelicans, most notably a stellar first-round series in 2022.
While there's no doubt that this trade would cause the defense to take a dip, I don't think the defense completely bottoms out. Instead of playing drop coverage all of the time, the Wolves can rely on an athletic and switchable lineup that can pester guys on the perimeter.
Julius Randle would need to be subsequently dealt in this trade to build out the roster
If this trade happened, and the Timberwolves presumably re-signed Ayo Dosunmu, the lineup would have Ayo Dosunmu, Anthony Edwards, Brandon Ingram, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, and Naz Reid. That's six guys, and we all know who the odd man out is.
Randle is the most likely player to be traded on the roster pretty easily. In fact, I'd nearly guarantee he's on another team next season after the culmination of his playoff blunder, bad body language, and overall fit with the roster.
In this scenario, Randle would likely be traded for two depth pieces, or maybe another rim protector that would push Reid back to his sixth man role. A couple of realistic options would be trading Randle to the Brooklyn Nets for Nic Claxton or trading him to the Dallas Mavericks along with pick 28 for a PJ Washington and Naji Marshall package.
There haven't been any direct rumors linking Ingram to the Timberwolves, but the fit and possibility are both there.
One thing is for sure: the Wolves need bucket-getters, and Ingram fits that bill. Tim Connelly does his work in the shadows, so whichever move the Wolves make, expect it to be out of the blue.
