Having traded Jeff Teague to Atlanta today, the Timberwolves are actively pursuing additional deals and have intensified their pursuit of Warriors point guard D’Angelo Russell, report Shams Charania and Jon Krawcznyski of The Athletic.
[RELATED: Timberwolves trade Jeff Teague to Hawks]
Russell was atop Minnesota’s wish list in free agency this past offseason, but the Wolves’ recruiting efforts fell short when the Warriors swooped in with a four-year, maximum-salary offer for the All-Star guard.
Russell has been viewed as a trade candidate essentially since the day he agreed to sign with Golden State, but the Warriors appear inclined to keep him at least through the 2020 trade deadline, per Charania and Krawcznyski, since the club would have more trade options once its hard cap lifts in July. As such, there has been no traction so far on a potential deal between the Wolves and Warriors.
While nothing is imminent on the Russell front, rival teams say the market for Robert Covington has been heating up as of late, according to Charania and Krawczynski. Minnesota is expected to “drive a hard bargain” for the talented three-and-D wing, but plenty of contenders have interest, including the Rockets, Mavericks, and Sixers.
New Wolves head of basketball operations Gersson Rosas spent nearly two decades working in Houston’s front office and was Daryl Morey‘s top lieutenant for years. He shares Morey’s aggressive approach to the trade market and likely won’t hesitate to shake things up and reshape Minnesota’s roster to fit his vision. After today’s Teague deal, it seems safe to say the Wolves aren’t done dealing.
I think if the Warriors deal D’Angelo to the Wolves they’re gonna want Covington and Culver as starting points
Nope, they’re going to want KAT.
Lacob doesn’t care about role players, he wants 4 superstars.
Delusional
DELUSIONAL is wolves fans thinking they would get DLO for an almost 30 year old role player, 1st round pick in Culver who hasn’t show a damn thing and don’t even get started on Wiggins LOL
What’s more delusional is LA fans thinking that Minny will just give them KAT for a guy like D’Angelo who plays zero D.
GS fans, that is.
Let’s not get started on your Rockets LOL. No warrior fan thinks there getting KAT for DLO…that’s comical, like your Rockets.
Covington would be a perfect fit with warriors. I can see a wolves and warriors trade happen. Idk what the other peices be. Maybe culver?
Agreed on him being a good fit. Kind of like a Draymond on D, as well as the 3-ball, but not as much of a playmaker.
I’m sure the Warriors are thinking Towns for Russell..
They can think whatever they want. That would never happen.
They’re not. Wolves want Russell to play with towns
Thats basically a Golden State erotic dream lol
And it’s different than Minnesota thinking they will get Russell for nothjng because???
Who said for nothing … does any Warrior’s fan actually expect Towns back for Russell cuz if so they need to lay off the opium
Covington is nothing compared with Dlo.
If they package 3 1st rounder it could get done.
Seems like Culver and Covington would be such a low sell for Russell
Really just can’t see it happening for them or it being successful for them.
Firstly a package of Covington Culver and a first would probably be enough but you still need to make salary’s match which is very difficult. Plus I think other teams can give a better package that that.
I think the Pacers should be looking at Brogdan for Russell type trades. Because Russell could be the future of Indy and between him and Oladipo you have the best backcourt in the east for the next 5 years.
I think if the Heat gave up Justice Winslow Kelly Olynyk and a first it would be a better package. Winslow is younger, doesn’t shoot the 3 ball well but is getting better offensively. Olynyk would be awesome as a stretch 4/5 with playoff experience and a first aswell.
Think the pelicans could do something interesting. Russell and Holiday would make a great backcourt duo and with Zion to return that would be exciting.
They could give up Derrick Favours (salary matching purposes) who they could resign for cheap after the season. With either Lonzo Ball (who GSW could develop) and a first, or Brandon Ingram (and receive back a first from GSW).
Ingram has lead his team this year but will he fit with Zion who is the focal point. Plus he needs a big new contract….
Secondly even if the wolves scraped through a deal, between Russell Wiggins and Towns your team has next to no salary cap space and they play next to no defence. I don’t think it would be any better than when they have LaVine Butler Wiggins Gibson and Towns.
Wolves never had LaVine and Butler since they were traded for eachother
Sorry your correct. Stupid mistake it was DRose and Teague not LaVine
You’re overestimating Russell’s value! Covington, Culver and a first is A LOT to give up for a 1-time all-Star who shows promise but also has been injury prone a bit. That’s 2 first round picks plus a guy who’s on one of the most team friendly contracts in the league and is going to be highly sought after because of his ability to play all-nba defense plus shoot 3’s.
Yea no 1st needed, I think a package of Covington/Culver/Dieng/Nowell for DLo/WCs/GR3/Burks/Poole makes sense and most importantly works on the trade machine lol pretty complicated this year with the dubs being hard capped
Definitely not happening GSW are trying to get picks for GR3, and Burke. Poole was there first round pick from not that long ago.
Deing has a garbage contract, Russell is way more valuable and Who even is Nowell.
You really think GSW will give up 4 players in their rotation, 1 that’s an all star for 1 good wolves player 1 draft pick that hasn’t been great 1 bad contract and 1 nobody
Russell is 23, he’s a all star PG. He can shoot well and pass well.
On the Nets he joined a 20 win team and in 2 years took them to 42 wins and the playoffs. Where they took a win against the 6ers.
Not only is he’s good player but he’s proven to be a pretty good leader and pretty good clutch shooter too which is very valuable at 23.
He is definitely worth a good player and two first round picks (in this case Culver who has been on/off as a 6th pick) and a first.
Although Covington is good he’s easily tradable. You could easily replace him with someone like Jae Crowder, Trevor Ariza, Otto Porter, Joe Ingles and so on… It’s much harder to replace an all star PG therefore they have much higher value
Russell was an all-star ONCE! He won’t be this year and he doesn’t project to be an All-NBA guy either since there are a lot of better players than him at guard positions. He maybe could reach that level. But he’s also not great on D. Not sure what he’s worth exactly. We’ll see. Also Covington is easy to trade but he’s not someone who can just be replaced by the guys you mentioned he’s one of the best defensive players in the league and also probably a better 3pt shooter than any of those guys
Covington is shooting 35.5% from 3, he’s not that great.
Porter is shooting 40%, Ingles is shooting 43%, And so on.
Covington ranks 96th in the league for shooting from deep. Russell is shooting a better percentage
Fair enough I was wrong about Porter and Ingles… but Covington is having a down year he’s usually 37-39% — he’s definitely a role player but his contract is amazingly team friendly and he’s been named 1st team All-Defense which is a huge thing. Not saying he’s more valuable than Russell but he’s super valuable
League average for 3P% is 35%, Covington’s career percentage is 36%…..
He’s made 1 all defensive first team, he’s average from deep and is on a nice contract.
Whereas Russell is 6 years younger, is an all star, has a career average 35% from deep, is a good leader, good clutch shooter, averages double Covington’s points, and so on …..
Covington is nice and 29 but Russell is 23 is a top 30 player and will only get better …..
Covington is a role player
Not saying he’s more valuable than Russell alone of course he’s a role player but a good shooter and a former 1st team All-Defense selection.
KAT is the only one on the Wolves who is on D-lo’s level.
Probably why they’ll need a third team, because it seems they want to pair them together. Not saying Russell is on KAT’s level, just nobody else on the team would be worth dealing him to the Wolves per say. Pair D’Lo with their top 5 pick though, now you really have something valuable.
Please.. let us get this. We never get nice things in MPLS. Cmon baby.
You could have had Steph…you don’t get nice things because your team should have been contracted after that – eat this curse
They could have legitimately had steph, kawhi, and cousins on the same team! Minny’s failure are on them alone!
Well, them and a half dozen other teams…
Not quite but nice try. Look up the draft history. Steph and cousin were top 7. And minny took 2 pg over steph.
If the Minn GM is offering (or discussing) trading Covington and Culver for Russell, he should be fired before he can pull the trigger. Russell isn’t not worth anything close to that. He checks all the boxes offensively, but isn’t elite at anything. He’s a minus defender. That’s not much for a “max” player (although, he is young, and its a first RSC extension). Still, any team that trades for him is giving up a max slot for a guy who isn’t ever likely to be a top 2 player on a championship team. That’s before they relinquish a single asset.
GSW should play the Phx vs Minn thing for all its worth, but I still doubt it’s worth that much.
How does that trade make any sense for GSW? It doesn’t now add in 3 1st rounders and it makes sense.
Dlo and GSW top 3 pick for KAT lets go.
That’s kinda dumb – wolves don’t want Russell except for to play with Towns otherwise why make a move???
Warriors also have that juicy lotto pick coming. DLo + Pick for KAT would be nuts.
Again, still makes no sense on Wolves end. KAT is worth way more than Russell and there’s no obvious prize in this years draft to make up the difference…but if I’m warriors I’d LOVE to do that
Wouldn’t they just use RoCo to facilitate a DLo trade? To me, RoCo is not worth a whole lot, I would insist on the Wovles 1st. The Crabbe trade actually hurts them, he can’t be traded with another player.
They could do RoCo and Dieng and a 1st for DLo and a rookie contract, however…. Diengs contract is the only legitimate way they can improve their roster next season via trade. Sooo they messed up in a big way if were being critical of their FO. Crabbe trade did absolutely nothing for them. If it was part of a 3-team deal where they landed DLo okay. This lack of foresight should land their GM in the unemployment line.
Crabbe can be added to another player, Hawks absorbed the trade with cap space. Good move from Rosas.
BTW if anyone thinks that D’lo can be traded for KAT, they really shouldn’t be watching basketball.
GSW has nothing worth KAT, not even the whole roster would be worth it.
Allen Crabbe cannot be traded in combination with another player. Literally from NBA Trade Machine.
If teams acquire a player in a trade, they are allowed to trade that player straight-up for another individual player immediately. However, if teams wish to package that player with another and make a trade, they must wait 60 days before doing so.
Deadline is Feb 6th, so just shy of 60 days.
El don, Igree on Towns’s value, but I think you mean the GSW playing roster. GSW has a splendid non-playing roster!
Also Atlanta can do whatever with Teague but it is Crabbe who is restricted.