Minnesota Sports Forum

If you were the Wolves PBO and the Warriors were willing to return the full rights to our 2021 1st-round pick and Wiggins in exchange for DLO, would you do it?

(Note: We can't get our 2nd round pick back because the Warriors have already traded it)

I see Kek and Cam have already voted here. LOL But yes, of course you reverse it. You can always trade Wig elsewhere if desired. That #1 pick is worth more than either player in my opinion.

My position on this won't come as any surprise. I still think it was a good and necessary trade, and I wouldn't reverse or trade back. My only quibble would be that the protection on the first-round pick sent to Golden State should have been top-10 at least, but I understand that Minnesota wasn't negotiating from a clear position of strength at the time.

At D'Angelo Russell's best he's shown to be a much better basketball player than Andrew Wiggins and should compliment Karl-Anthony Towns' game more than Wiggins ever could. Remember, we got to witness five full seasons of Wiggins and the franchise went no where. He had to be dealt and from all accounts he was going to cost at least one first-round pick (but likely more) to offload without getting anything of value back.

The biggest problem with that trade is that Minnesota hasn't gotten Russell's best (yet?) and he's only played five games with Towns thus far. The Wolves just haven't been able to see their vision come to life when it comes to those two, and not all of that is Russell's fault.

The best-case scenario now is that Minnesota loses enough games to keep their pick this year. Either they use that pick to draft another highly talented prospect or they package it to acquire a star player. They'd run it back in 2021-22 with some tweaks to the roster and hope to be much more competitive in the standings essentially driving the draft pick heading to the Warriors outside of the lottery and perhaps even into the 20's.

The worst-case scenario would be Minnesota tanking the rest of this season and still losing their top pick to the Warriors while holding Russell and Towns out of games for long periods of time further pushing the question of whether they're a functional duo or not into the future.

I would argue that the product you saw on the floor last night will be about the same as what you see when KAT and DLO play together. What we gain in DLO's shooting ability we give up in ball movement, defense, and overall cohesion. There isn't going to be a dramatic shift in the win column.

I would rate the pieces of that trade last year in the following order:

1) Our #1 2021 Pick
2) Wiggins
3) DLO
4) Our #2 2021 Pick

I know Abe may rip me being the promise of hope guy but Id like to see more than 10 games of Kat and Dlo. I really like their complimentary characteristics, and if Jaden does end up being as good of a defender as he has flashed I really like the trajectory of this team with him and Ant. Im ok with the trade for now. If 30+ games of DLo and KAT look horrible I reserve the right to change my mind.

thedoper wrote:I know Abe may rip me being the promise of hope guy but Id like to see more than 10 games of Kat and Dlo. I really like their complimentary characteristics, and if Jaden does end up being as good of a defender as he has flashed I really like the trajectory of this team with him and Ant. Im ok with the trade for now. If 30+ games of DLo and KAT look horrible I reserve the right to change my mind.

It's totally fair to want to see those two play together more. Both are veteran, proven players and we need to see if they work as a tandem.

Now, if you said "let's trade Towns to see if the 2022 draft pick we get for him gels with Russell"... then, I'd be angry about the Promise of Hope.

thedoper wrote:I know Abe may rip me being the promise of hope guy but Id like to see more than 10 games of Kat and Dlo. I really like their complimentary characteristics, and if Jaden does end up being as good of a defender as he has flashed I really like the trajectory of this team with him and Ant. Im ok with the trade for now. If 30+ games of DLo and KAT look horrible I reserve the right to change my mind.

What if we could somehow get our #1 pick back with Shabazz Muhammad instead of Wig? Then are you in?

thedoper wrote:I know Abe may rip me being the promise of hope guy but Id like to see more than 10 games of Kat and Dlo. I really like their complimentary characteristics, and if Jaden does end up being as good of a defender as he has flashed I really like the trajectory of this team with him and Ant. Im ok with the trade for now. If 30+ games of DLo and KAT look horrible I reserve the right to change my mind.

That is where I am out. I want to see them play together. We have had 5 games with them since the trade made over a year ago. Will it work Im not sure but they are both young talent players who have had both moments throughout there career where they have been top 30 players in the NBA. I just want to see it first. I get it will really suck if the Wolves give up the #4 pick but the Wolves are still protected on not giving up a player like Cunningham or Suggs.

Im willing to gamble on a player who has proven he can be the best player on a playoff team. Will it work Im not sure but I will take that gamble over a player who is at best the 4th best prospect in this upcoming draft.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

thedoper wrote:I know Abe may rip me being the promise of hope guy but Id like to see more than 10 games of Kat and Dlo. I really like their complimentary characteristics, and if Jaden does end up being as good of a defender as he has flashed I really like the trajectory of this team with him and Ant. Im ok with the trade for now. If 30+ games of DLo and KAT look horrible I reserve the right to change my mind.

What if we could somehow get our #1 pick back with Shabazz Muhammad instead of Wig? Then are you in?

Boy I will never live down wanting Shabazz to become a scorer on this team. I was in 100% when Flip thought Wig and Bazz were the future of the team. I was wrong.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I would argue that the product you saw on the floor last night will be about the same as what you see when KAT and DLO play together. What we gain in DLO's shooting ability we give up in ball movement, defense, and overall cohesion. There isn't going to be a dramatic shift in the win column.

I would rate the pieces of that trade last year in the following order:

1) Our #1 2021 Pick
2) Wiggins
3) DLO
4) Our #2 2021 Pick

And as pointed out in another thread that lamented how far below the league average Rubio and JO are in eFG%, DLO also ranks below the league average in eFG%. Sure, he's going to win a few games for you in Crawford/LaVine fashion because he can be a prolific scorer when on, but at the end of the day, he is only average at best in the one skill we all give him credit for...shooting. Cool's 1-4 ranking above is eactly accurate in my opinion, and demonstrates why this was such a disastrous trade for the Wolves.