Minnesota Timberwolves building up for a trade to get a superstar?

The Minnesota Timberwolves appear to have big plans for the NBA draft and trade market with the report that they’re looking to add a second lottery pick.

The Minnesota Timberwolves may have been the winners of the NBA draft lottery in more ways than one when they ended up with the No. 1 pick, even though there are fit concerns with each of the top three projected picks.

James Wiseman plays the same position as Karl-Anthony Towns, LaMelo Ball plays the same position as D’Angelo Russell (and his ceiling is likely Russell-esque) and Anthony Edwards is basically an equivalent to Andrew Wiggins, who the team moved on from at the last trade deadline. With all this redundancy, the first overall pick seems like a burden if anything, especially since the talent at the top of this draft class is mediocre compared to some other drafts.

There are a few solutions to this conundrum, and it appears that the Timberwolves are embracing one of them. According to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, they are looking to acquire another pick in the lottery and may be willing to trade the 17th overall pick and Jarrett Culver to make it happen.

Assuming they’re able to swing a deal, it’s fair to speculate what the end-game is. Do we think the Minnesota Timberwolves really just want to cycle through lottery picks (Culver was the sixth pick in last year’s draft), or is there some kind of accumulation in play for the purposes of flipping multiple assets for a superstar?

Considering the Timberwolves likely have minimal interest in any of the top picks in this draft and would be trading a developmental project for two more projects, it’s more likely that they’re going to want to acquire that second lottery pick in order to combine assets to trade for a big-ticket player.

They also have a sizeable expiring contract that can be packaged with those draft picks in the form of James Johnson’s $15.8 million 2020-21 salary. He has a player option, and he’s a lock to opt in.

A receiving team could thus acquire the No. 1 overall pick, another lottery pick, and almost $16 million in cap relief going into next season. It sure seems like something a team like the Houston Rockets might want to look in on, if they’re intending to move Russell Westbrook or even (wonder of wonders) James Harden.

It might be a fantasy at this point, but James Harden and Karl-Anthony Towns would make for a lethal offensive combination, and this Minnesota Timberwolves squad probably wouldn’t be the worst team Harden has dragged to the playoffs.

We’ll see just how high Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas sets his sights in what appears to be a quest for a major acquisition, but picking up a second lottery pick would open up a whole new world of possibilities for the organization as it seeks to rebuild and gain relevance.

It’s been nine months since the last NBA trade, and we’re finally just days away from seeing what the next moves will be. At this point, it seems safe to say that the Timberwolves will be involved in some of the biggest transactions laying ahead.