Back by the popular demand of pretty much only myself, it’s the second annual edition of Around the NBA in 15 Trades. We’re taking all 30 teams in the lead up to the Feb. 7 trade deadline and finding a happy middle ground for prosperous barterdom.
Last night, Victor Oladipo suffered a serious knee injury. After breaking out last season, he sustained his momentum and proved his stardom wasn’t a fluke. He’s led a weird and wonderful team to the third-best record in the East.
Now, Indiana will have to move on without their best player and try to maintain a home court spot for the postseason.
Minnesota regressed after making the playoffs for the first time since the Bush administration. They dealt with the Jimmy Butler saga and cut bait on the ill-fated coach/GM Thibs fiasco, possibly because this is a thing that exists. It’s not even the All-Star break yet.
The Timberwolves need to figure out what they want to be and who they’re building with.
Why the Pacers do it:
The Pacers could use a high volume scorer to fill in the void left in Oladipo’s wake. With the combination of Andrew Wiggins and Jeff Teague, they’d replace their best player with a talented and athletic — yet inconsistent — young piece and a steady veteran to help guide the ship.
This trade would keep intact Indiana’s top-6 guys by minutes played, so there’d be as much continuity as possible.
Perhaps, the Pacers can unlock the plethora of potential in Wiggins like they did with Oladipo before him.
Why the Timberwolves do it:
Wiggins, for all the hype and intriguing upside (and perhaps because of it), has not lived up to expectations. His mountainous contract – four years left after this one with nearly $148 million owed – makes him virtually untradeable. That is, of course, until Minnesota finds a team desperate for talent that could talk themselves into taking a chance.
Moving Wiggins and Teague seizes a rare opportunity to hit the reset button on their cap sheet. Tyreke Evans and Cory Joseph come off the books after the season, while Doug McDermott’s on a manageable deal and T.J. Leaf’s on a rookie contract.
The talent disparity in this trade is vast, but Minnesota gets to slap down a get-out-of-jail-free card. That in itself wields an incredible amount of trade currency.