The Minnesota Timberwolves finally made the playoffs after waiting for 4 years last season and were hoping to build off that success by going all-in on their roster. They had many good young players that they packaged up together with 5 first-round picks to acquire Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz to make a twin-tower lineup with him and Karl-Anthony Towns.
That trade has not worked out at all for Minnesota. One of the picks that they traded was Walker Kessler, their 2022 first-round pick who is now putting up 20-20 games in Utah and is among the league leaders for blocks. Gobert has regressed significantly and has been looked at as an impediment to the Wolves success.
He failed to share the court with KAT and hasn’t been much better since KAT went down with an injury. Charles Barkley has officially coined the Gobert trade as the ‘worst trade in NBA history‘.
"The Timberwolves made the worst trade in NBA history… That was so stupid that trade."
— Charles Barkley#RaisedByWolveshttps://t.co/7u8GA4ogIf
— 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧' 𝐍𝐁𝐀 (@_Talkin_NBA) January 17, 2023
“The Timberwolves made the worst trade in NBA history. That was so stupid, that trade.”
Gobert has been a defensive floor-raiser his entire career, making the Jazz one of the best defenses in the NBA consistently even when he didn’t have help on the perimeter. Clearly, it was Quin Snyder’s system where Gobert excelled, as he hasn’t been the same ‘Stifle Tower’ everyone knows him to be, especially in the regular season.
Are The Wolves Returning To The Playoffs?
Gobert is used to being in the playoffs, with his acquisition expected to solidify the Wolves’ status as a playoff-level team. They have no major assets left to improve this team and are not looking like safe bets for a playoff run. They will be in the play-in mix till the end, but it depends on the success teams like the Lakers and OKC Thunder have.
The Jazz traded for the Wolves collection of future picks and beat them tonight, with Gobert contributing just 2 points in 4 minutes of play due to injury. The Jazz have been a consistently better team this season as well, walking out as an unquestionable winner in a trade that will impact the next 6 years of the Wolves draft.
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