Revisiting 5 recent terrible trades ahead of the deadline

Nikola Vucevic of the Chicago Bulls with Marques Bolden of the Milwaukee Bucks (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Nikola Vucevic of the Chicago Bulls with Marques Bolden of the Milwaukee Bucks (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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Rudy Gobert, NBA
Rudy Gobert (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images) /

The Rudy Gobert Trade

Despite currently being a respectable sixth in the West, the Minnesota Timberwolves can’t credit their blockbuster offseason move for their relative success. In fact, the Wolves deal with the Utah Jazz is already widely regarded as a terrible decision and a historic overpay on their part.

Both Jarred Vanderbilt and Walker Kessler have played very well in Utah, as has Timberwolves backup center Naz Reid. That suggests that the Wolves didn’t actually need to make the trade. In fact, it seems as though they outbid themselves by giving up the equivalent of five first-round picks for a player who is wildly overpaid.

Now they are stuck with him for the next three seasons unless they give up more assets to offload him. They could always try to make it work by bringing in a playmaking point guard capable of getting Gobert more involved on offense. Then again, the Wolves may never make the Towns and Gobert pairing fully work. That’s a big problem since that would mean their big off-season acquisition doesn’t fit with their best player.

Meanwhile, the Utah Jazz are sitting pretty. Malik Beasley, Kessler, and Vanderbilt are all rotation players on the most surprising team in the NBA this season. It’s clear that they won this trade; we just don’t know to what extent yet with so many picks coming their way.