Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 issues with trading for Myles Turner
By Ethan Becker
Questions for the Minnesota Timberwolves: 2. Where does Turner fit into the lineup?
There’s also a positional question that would need to be addressed should the Timberwolves bring Turner in. Turner has played at center all his life and has started all but 30 games in his career. In fact, Turner hasn’t missed a start since the 2015-16 season: his rookie year. Somebody who’s played the same position, against the same type of opponents, for so long becomes accustomed to that kind of role. If Minnesota traded for Turner, they’d likely look to start him next to Karl-Anthony Towns in the lineup as a power forward. Sometimes, this shift in position is no problem. Other times, you move Paul George to a different position and things just fall apart, both with him and the team.
And then you have to consider who the Timberwolves would have to give up to acquire Turner, and how that would affect team chemistry. Minnesota isn’t sitting in a great place for cap, making a deal a little difficult, and their list of untouchables is likely long and includes Towns, Malik Beasley, D’Angelo Russell, and Anthony Edwards, among a possible few more. Another issue with trading is the fact that Minnesota may not have a first-round pick this year (depending on NBA draft lottery results), and cannot trade their first-round pick next year, leaving them without an at least somewhat valuable pick to offer until 2023.
A rebuilding team like the Pacers is much more likely to make a deal with the Charlotte Hornets, another team rumored to be interested in Turner, because of the picks that the Hornets could send to Indiana. With the untouchable players listed above, and Minnesota likely unwilling to trade Rubio, Jaden McDaniels, and Reid unless they get the perfect package in return, that leaves the Timberwolves’ most valuable assets as Josh Okogie, Jarrett Culver, Jake Layman, Juancho Hernangomez, and Ed Davis.
Most of those guys are role players, at best, and are unlikely to draw the eye of Indiana in any sort of serious trade talk. Because of that, the Wolves would be taking a risk trading a valuable young asset for a player who may not fit into their system yet. Speaking of those young assets…