Minnesota Timberwolves: Potential Kemba Walker-Jeff Teague swap

Jeff Teague has had an up-and-down season for the Minnesota Timberwolves. If Kemba Walker is available, the Wolves should look into a potential trade.

With the Minnesota Timberwolves slowly turning their focus to how to win in the playoffs once they get there, they need to look to shore up their weaknesses.

One of their biggest flaws is Jeff Teague‘s poor decision making in crunch time and late shot-clock situations. Minnesota has no grand plans for their draft picks since they are in perpetual “win-now” mode.

On the trade market, Tom Thibodeau can combine Teague’s reasonable contract with future draft picks to entice the Charlotte Hornets into a deal that can help them start anew.

The Trade:

Reasoning for Minnesota:

The Timberwolves are one of the least 3-point friendly teams in the league. Tom Thibodeau understands that, and wants his shooters to be aggressive, but he still implores his team to stick to its strengths. Minnesota beats teams by imposing its will physically and protecting the ball. Teague has done neither of those things at a high level.

Jeff Teague has a career-high 18.3 percent turnover rate. His free throw rate is down 18.5 percent from last season. The common train of thought would be to relate his poor performance to adjusting with a much lower usage rate in among the Timberwolves’ many options on offense. But that is not the case. Teague’s usage rate is only down two percent from last season, a minuscule amount.

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Whether it be injuries, general fatigue or just regular old poor play, Teague hasn’t looked like himself this year. His offensive rating is down nine points from last season in Indiana, and is now below league-average. Teague is still a veteran guard that can play with great pace, something that is not so useful under Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau.

Minnesota is 24th in the NBA in terms of pace. The Hornets are ninth. The fact that the Hornets play up-tempo this year just means Teague would have an easier time adjusting to the team. His two most successful years in terms of offensive rating were his All-Star season with the Atlanta Hawks in 2015 and the stint with the Indiana Pacers last season. Both teams hovered around the league average in pace, much higher than the current T-Wolves.

Kemba Walker is currently averaging 22.8 points per game. He is attempting 7.5 3-pointers per game and knocking them down at a 37 percent clip. Teague is shooting 35.5 percent from 3-point range, but is only attempting 28.6 percent of his shots from there. Walker is shooting a healthy 42.2 percent of his shots from the 3-point line, and he also attempts more free throws per game than Teague. Walker’s offense and dramatically lower turnover rate — 9.9 percent compared to 18.3 percent — make him a perfect trade target for Minnesota.

Per Clifton Brown of the Indy Star:

"“The Hornets say they aren’t shopping Walker, but they are listening to phone calls. Expect the phones to keep ringing.”"

Reasoning for Charlotte:

The Hornets are 10th in the East at the time of this writing. Owner Michael Jordan surely wants to see the team choose a clear direction. They are not contenders whatsoever, but they are closer the last playoff seed than the bottom of the East. Getting rid of their bigger contracts should be their top priority. Charlotte originally wanted a top talent in return for Walker, but with the market quiet for guards, this could be a rare beneficial move for both teams.

The Hornets have their own first round pick, which is slated to be 10th overall as of now. In this deal, Charlotte would receive the Timberwolves’ first-rounder, estimated to be in the early 20s, as well as getting back their 2019 second-rounder from a previous trade. On top of the draft picks, the Hornets benefit from this deal by establishing that they are rebuilding. The Jeff Teague-Kemba Walker swap would see Charlotte send out over $38 million in contracts while receiving just under $32 million back.

Cole Aldrich has one more year remaining on his contract at $6.9 million. Nemanja Bjelicia has an expiring contract, while Shabazz Muhammad is on a veteran’s minimum deal and is simply searching for playing time. Teague is the only person with a long-term deal (considering three years long-term here) coming to Charlotte, but despite having a higher price tag than Walker, Teague will not push this team toward the playoffs. That is, of course, assuming this move would be the first of many for Charlotte.

Next: 2018 NBA Draft big board: End of January

Trading Kemba Walker would be the start of a fire sale for the Hornets. They could actually move Teague (by himself per league rules) after receiving him. Getting rid of Walker for these assets could make it easier to facilitate trades for Dwight Howard and Nicolas Batum should they choose to. The Hornets would come out of the trade with a nice eye toward the future with smaller contracts (sans Teague), two 2018 first round picks and two 2018 second round picks.