Wolves Free Agent & Trade Thread

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Minnesota has the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception they could use on either of those bigs, or someone else. It can be used to sign contracts up to four years, and the projected amount for the 2022-23 season is $10,349,000.

[Monster]

Adrian Wojnarowski: Chicago Bulls center Tony Bradley is exercising his $2M player option for next season, sources tell ESPN. - via Twitter wojespn

Further confirmation that it's a buyer's market for bigs in the NBA. Tony Bradley isn't a stiff. He's a solid young mobile big who has great length and probably more upside. Yet, he didn't even test the free-agent waters, choosing instead to re-sign with his current team for around the League minimum. Even if we assume that Nurkic stays in Portland as expected, there are still be a lot of quality free agent bigs available, which means a large supply of bigs relative to the limited demand for bigs in today's NBA. With the full $10M MLE and full $4M BAE to spend, the Wolves have the financial means to sign any of the free-agent bigs other than Nurkic. It's just a matter of who the Wolves want and the pitch they make to that player. Even with Kessler, the Wolves can pitch a genuine opportunity to start alongside KAT to Hartenstein or Jalen Smith as well as the opportunity to join a young playoff team on the rise.

I see no reason for the Wolves to give up any quality assets to trade for a big. They have ample free agent alternatives. They use need to find and recruit the right one.

Maybe Tony Bradley learned from Hartenstein who opted out last year. I think it's possible Hartenstein turn down some deals last offseason but yeah. One of the problems of opting out is there are simply only so many teams with open roster spots.

I'm glad you came around to my line of thinking not giving up assets for a big. :)

[Lipoli390]

Adrian Wojnarowski: Chicago Bulls center Tony Bradley is exercising his $2M player option for next season, sources tell ESPN. - via Twitter wojespn

Further confirmation that it's a buyer's market for bigs in the NBA. Tony Bradley isn't a stiff. He's a solid young mobile big who has great length and probably more upside. Yet, he didn't even test the free-agent waters, choosing instead to re-sign with his current team for around the League minimum. Even if we assume that Nurkic stays in Portland as expected, there are still be a lot of quality free agent bigs available, which means a large supply of bigs relative to the limited demand for bigs in today's NBA. With the full $10M MLE and full $4M BAE to spend, the Wolves have the financial means to sign any of the free-agent bigs other than Nurkic. It's just a matter of who the Wolves want and the pitch they make to that player. Even with Kessler, the Wolves can pitch a genuine opportunity to start alongside KAT to Hartenstein or Jalen Smith as well as the opportunity to join a young playoff team on the rise.

I see no reason for the Wolves to give up any quality assets to trade for a big. They have ample free agent alternatives. They use need to find and recruit the right one.

Maybe Tony Bradley learned from Hartenstein who opted out last year. I think it's possible Hartenstein turn down some deals last offseason but yeah. One of the problems of opting out is there are simply only so many teams with open roster spots.

I'm glad you came around to my line of thinking not giving up assets for a big. :)

Monster - I'm just trying to keep up with you. That's all I can do. :)

[Lipoli390]

Hey Lip, how much money do the Wolves have to pursue Hartenstein or Jalen Smith?

Assuming the Wolves let Okogie and Layman walk as expected and assuming the Wolves sign Minott to one of their two-way deals, the Wolves will have one roster spot and the full MLE (about $10.3 million) to offer a free agent big. After signing Prince, the Wolves will be about $11M under the luxury tax threshold. So the Wolves are perfectly positioned to sign, Hartenstein, Jalen Smith or some other big if they want to. It's no accident the Wolves ended up under the luxury tax threshold by almost exactly the full MLE amount with one roster spot remaining. We're seeing some uncharacteristically good front office roster and cap management from this new Wolves front office. Really impressive.

[Lipoli390]

I'm surprised by Tony Bradley's decision, Lip. I thought he played his way into a bigger deal this off-season. It would appear to be a buyer's market indeed. We'll see if Tim Connelly and the front office can take advantage of it.

Cam - If Connelly called and asked you to recommend one more off-season move this summer, what would you recommend? If your choice was to sign a free agent big using some portion of the MLE, who would you tell Connelly to sign?

[Lipoli390]

Returning to the idea of trading DLO, here's how things appear to be shaping up as the context for a DLO deal.

First, recent reports are almost uniformly anticipating that Brunson will sign with the Knicks. Those reports including reporting from the local Dallas paper. So I think these reports are pretty reliable. And it's not surprising. The fact that the Knicks gave up draft opportunities to create cap space is telling. Leon Rose isn't an idiot so he's not going to do what he did on draft night without a pretty good idea that he'll land Brunson. Moreover, Rose was Brunson's former agent. I don't believe for a second that Knicks officials haven't talked to Brunson or his agent. The Knicks should certainly be investigated for tampering if they end up signing Brunson. My take away for the Wolves is that they can scratch the Knicks off their list of potential suitors for DLO.

Second, it's been reported that John Wall will sign with the Clippers, another one of the few teams in the market for a starting PG. So the Wolves can cross the Clippers off their list as well.

Meanwhile I would expect both Brogdon and Dejounte Murray to end up traded to any remaining teams in search of an upgrade at the PG position. I would bet that one of those two players ends up with the Wizards. As a rebuilding team the Spurs won't need to backfill their PG position immediately, which means they'd have no interest in trading any assets for DLO. The Pacers clearly have Haliburton pegged as their PG as they continue their rebuild. In theory, the Mavs would need a PG replacement for Brunson, but in reality Luka is functionally their really PG. I see the Mavs signing Tyus Jones as a free agent to backfill behind Brunson.

Bottom line is that I just don't see a market for DLO this summer. It's not that DLO isn't a good, valuable PG. It's simply that the demand for a starting PG won't be there once the more coveted options are moved. Having said that, I actually think DLO is a better PG than Brogdon. But I'm not sure that view is shared by NBA front office executives around the League and, in any event, Brogdon's contract is probably more attractive than DLO's. So there you have it. The odds that the Wolves trade DLO this summer are slim and slim's out of town. :).

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

Portis was the guy I wanted the Wolves to sign when Rosas instead decided to re-sign Juancho. Portis would be a great fit for the Wolves and, at the time, he was definitely gettable. But I don't see him signing with the Wolves now. I suspect he'll stay in Milwaukee. He loves it there and they love him. They have his Bird rights, so they're not limited on what they can pay him. So the Portis ship has sailed. If we're looking to add a big, here are what I'd consider the realistic options that might be worth pursuing:

1. Sign one of the following free agents: Jalen Smith, Hartenstein Montrezl Harrell, Andre Drummond or JaVale McGee

2. Trade Beasley and Naz (maybe with a future pick) for Myles Turner, Richaun Holmes, Steven Adams, or Jonathan Isaac.

3. Trade Naz Reid and maybe a 2nd-round pick for Alex Len

FWIW Lawrence Frank's said their top priority was resigning their FAs. I would think to keep Hartenstein they would have to use an exception to do it.

If the Wolves want Alex Len they should be able to get him by just taking him in with a trade exception and sending the Kings the rights to Paulo Prestes or something. I can't imagine giving up anything of value to trade for Alex Len. I'm not saying he sucks but he isn't that much better than someone who will be available for the vet min. One guy I don't think anyone has mentioned in a while is Wille Cauley Stein.

There's a reason I haven't mentioned WCS. He's not very good. Among other things, he's a pretty poor rebounder and that's what we need. Alex Len for our trade exception sounds fine to me if we can't sign or trade for one of the others I listed. I think we'd need to give up a little more than just the trade exception.

Attention Board: It is OK to not think that every non-wolf is automatically better than every Wolf.

Monster, I like you, but if it was going to happen for WCS, it would have. He's 28, and hasn't averaged 20 min. in two seasons. But hey, I love WCS. Comes from the nicest Kansas City suburb. Goes to Duke. Lots of advantages many of us have will never have. And to celebrate his luck/success/opportunities, he runs out and gets 800 neck tattoos. I'm looking forward to Zach Parise's neck tattoo phase.

First of all WCS didn't go to Duke. It seems like it should be pretty easy to remember where he went to college but I guess not.

Next do you know why WCS didn't play much last year? Probably not or you would have said something. Last year the Mavs a fairly smart NBA team thought he was valuable enough to pick up his team option for around 4 million. It was not that long ago WCS was considered one the better rim protectors in the NBA. There were plenty of people on this board taking about acquiring him less than 12 months ago because we had no true centers on the roster

When I am suggesting considering WCS (if he is healthy and good to go after whatever kept him from playing for months of season last year) then it's for a guy signing for the vet min maybe not even a fully guaranteed deal. I'm suggesting a guy that's a backup/depth guy that costs basically nothing as opposed to trading an asset to get Alex Len who is also just a backup. For the record I'm pretty sure I said the same thing about the idea of trading for WCS last year. Sign a vet min guy there are players available that can play for cheap. We found that out even more this last season when teams were signing guys that hadn't played for years and some of them played quite competently

1. Dear Wolves: Because I mixed up one blue-and-white college basketball team for another, you now have to give one of your last roster spots to the worst player from "Sons of Anarchy". No, not Katie Seagal, the other one. Please forgive me. If not, consider it payback for the time one of your owners took PED's so he could have a 1.200 Playoff OPS versus my beloved Twins. You know which one.
2. Dallas screwed up. It happens. People keep telling me Jerry West was the best POBO ever. I tend to think that when your team is next door to the movie making place, and all of the players want to make movies, it's easy to get them to come to your place, but who knows. Well, West once gave a five year max to someone named Brian Cardinal. And if Favre decides to come back, does that mean someone has to sign him? I'll stay tuned.
3. It was actually very long ago, like a line from a Shakespeare Sonnet long ago.
4. "Plenty of people on this board...." is not nearly the argument you think it is.
5. They were signing guys who hadn't played in years because of Covid. And most of them reminded us why they hadn't played in years.
6. And like I said on the other thread, I knew that if MIN brought back Prince, everybody would talk themselves into it and forget WCS and Kandi and Gary Leonard and everyone else.
There is no world in which Bill Russell hands the O'brien Trophy to WCS in which he is not immediately tackled by security.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

I still like the idea of acquiring Jonathan Isaac. Yes there are questions on his health, but he could be a good 'buy low' acquisition. With a glut of big men and point guards Orlando really need some depth and shooting at the wing position.

Maybe Malik Beasley and a future 2nd (or two) might be enough to get a deal done?

The other issue with Isaac is that he's a polarizing guy in the locker room.

If towns and these other clowns can pull all their liberal snowflake bs, why can't Isaac speak up about his conservative views? I'm tired of this double standard.

FWIW and I don't honestly care that much but I have not heard about anything Isaac having issues in the locker room. I may disagree with some of his stances but he has also seemed respectful stating his thoughts. Maybe that changed since I last paid attention but he also wasn't playing either so maybe nobody was really asking him.

I think Isaac has done a great job articulating his views on subjects even though I personally disagree with them. He is in his right. I think the thing that it comes down to is how much Kat cares about this stuff. Right or wrong Kat is sort of the NBA poster boy when it comes to Covid and vaccines. Can Isaac and Kat coexist, none of us no that. In terms of basketball I love Isaac game

I get what you're both saying. Sometimes I hate myself for being an nba fan. The fact that kyrie and Isaac get ripped on in the media and labeled as problems or bad teammates is crazy to me.

DL - You shouldn't lump Isaac in with Kyrie. As a very devout Christian, Isaac just quietly held to his deeply held religious beliefs regarding vaccination. That's all. Otherwise, by all accounts he's been a great and beloved teammate who has struggled through injuries and worked really hard to overcome them. Kyrie is an arrogant a-hole. He was repeatedly missing in action well before Covid. And he didn't just refuse to get vaccinated, he grandstanded on that issue - the flip side of Steve Kerr's virtue signaling. He spouts weird conspiracy stuff in social media. He's a guy who would be problematic on any roster because he can't be counted on and doesn't act like a teammate. Based on everything I've read about Isaac, he'd be a great teammate and the Wolves current players would likely embrace and love the guy.

Good point. Yeah I shouldn't group them together. I guess I forget about some of kyries previous stuff.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

I still like the idea of acquiring Jonathan Isaac. Yes there are questions on his health, but he could be a good 'buy low' acquisition. With a glut of big men and point guards Orlando really need some depth and shooting at the wing position.

Maybe Malik Beasley and a future 2nd (or two) might be enough to get a deal done?

The other issue with Isaac is that he's a polarizing guy in the locker room.

If towns and these other clowns can pull all their liberal snowflake bs, why can't Isaac speak up about his conservative views? I'm tired of this double standard.

Your screename is D-Loser? Well, it's half right.

:). Good one Jason.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

I still like the idea of acquiring Jonathan Isaac. Yes there are questions on his health, but he could be a good 'buy low' acquisition. With a glut of big men and point guards Orlando really need some depth and shooting at the wing position.

Maybe Malik Beasley and a future 2nd (or two) might be enough to get a deal done?

The other issue with Isaac is that he's a polarizing guy in the locker room.

If towns and these other clowns can pull all their liberal snowflake bs, why can't Isaac speak up about his conservative views? I'm tired of this double standard.

The majority of Americans are conservative at least by European standards. Towns family has been devastated by covid, I will respect his feelings on this issue.

I respect his view. If I were his teammate I'd respect his right to choose. Someone on here said that towns might have an issue with an unvaccinated teammate... IF that were true, that is what I would have an issue with. If that makes me a dick or a loser than so be it.