A few days ago, Tim Connelly did what nearly every Minnesota Timberwolves fan wanted him to do, and he traded Julius Randle. Despite how poorly Randle played in the playoffs, fans still expected a decent return for him, maybe even a distressed asset point guard like a Ja Morant or Dejounte Murray.
When Randle was salary-dumped to the Brooklyn Nets to move back five spots in the draft, it left fans confused and wondering if the Wolves were going to take a step back. The Wolves kept striking out on every star they were rumored to be in on, and next season looked like it was going to be a "gap year."
But fast forward a couple of days -- and the opposite has happened
I had a feeling that Connelly wasn't done, but to say I expected a second move this quickly would be lying. The Wolves got their franchise point guard after all, and it wasn't a distressed asset. The Wolves acquired superstar LaMelo Ball and Josh Green in exchange for Naz Reid, their 2033 unprotected first-round pick, pick swaps from 2028-2030, and three second-round picks.
While it looks like the Wolves gave up a ton of draft capital in this trade, they really didn't. The pick swaps are heavily protected, and as long as the Wolves are better than the Hornets (which I think is fairly likely) in 2028, that swap won't even convey.
It quickly went from what was expected to be an extremely vanilla offseason for the Wolves to the exact opposite and this wouldn't have been possible without salary-dumping Randle. They now have maybe the most exciting backcourt in the NBA, and they undoubtedly leveled up.
The Julius Randle trade set this entire move up
Once again, hats off to Connelly for pulling off the unthinkable. By expanding the Randle trade, they were able to get Ball for only Naz Reid's salary if you include Randle going to Brooklyn. Not only that, but Josh Green could either be flipped for a power forward or stick around and be a piece off the bench as a 3-and-D guy.
To add to the greatness of the trade, the Wolves drafted sharpshooter Isaiah Evans with the pick they got by trading down in the salary dump. Evans was a guy who would have been in play with their original pick, and they were able to dump Randle's money and still get their guy.
One thing is very clear: Connelly is never going to get complacent. He knew exactly the moves that needed to be made for the Wolves to improve, and even with doubts from the fan base, he delivered.
The Randle trade was just the first step in his master plan, and now the fan base (including me) should know not to judge a move too soon, because Tim Connelly knows what he's doing, and he's building a monster.
