Philadelphia 76ers: 3 enthralling trades involving Robert Covington

2. Minnesota Timberwolves

While McCollum is a clear upgrade offensively, Jimmy Butler represents a legitimate threat at both ends of the floor.

In his debut season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Butler continued to demonstrate why he’s become acknowledged as one of the premium two-way players in the league. While he missed a portion of the season due to knee in jury, Butler was exceptional in averaging 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.0 steals in 36.7 minutes per game. Named an All-Star for the fourth consecutive year, last season also represented the fourth time in which Butler was named to the All-Defensive Second Team.

Entering next season, Butler has one remaining on his current deal, with a player option for $19.8 million in the 2019-20 season. So while he has now reunited with his former coach in Tom Thibodeau, Butler is all about winning. Situated in the brutal Western Conference, the Timberwolves are simply going to be up against it in the coming seasons due to the volume of prolific teams in their conference.

Under the proposed deal, in addition to Covington and Fultz, the Sixers will also be parting ways with emerging forward Dario Saric. Having made significant development in his second season in the league, Saric also flourished in his first postseason, averaging 17.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. A Saric and Karl-Anthony Towns pairing in the frontcourt would represent one of the more skilled and versatile duos in the league.

Furthermore, combining the athleticism of Covington and Andrew Wiggins on the wings would simply be a treat for coach Thibodeau. In addition, receiving the untapped ceiling of Fultz in the backcourt would mean the Timberwolves are well established with high-end talent for many years to come.

However for the Sixers, the addition of Butler clearly places them in win-now mode. Turning 29 before the start of next season, Butler is truly entering his prime, and would be clearly be an immediate difference maker. For salary cap purposes, center Cole Aldrich would be included in the deal.

Whether or not his presence would be enough to lure James to the Wells Fargo Center remains to be seen. However, regardless of James’ intentions, Butler represents an invaluable addition to the Embiid-Simmons duo.