The Minnesota Timberwolves are finally living in the universe they always promised. They’re 15-8, sitting sixth in the West, with a top-10 offense and a legitimate killer in Anthony Edwards. They just ripped off a five-game winning streak, including a two-game mini-sweep in New Orleans where Edwards dropped 44 in one game, and Julius Randle closed the other.
So on the surface, the idea of throwing a grenade into all of that by trading for Ja Morant sounds wild. But the league is already circling Morant as a “next stop” star, and ESPN just framed him, LaMelo Ball, and Trae Young as three All-Star guards stuck in limbo as the trade deadline creeps closer. Inevitably, a team like the Wolves, good, maybe one star away from really terrifying, gets dragged into that conversation.
The question isn’t just “Is Ja good?” We already know what his peak looks like. The real question is whether the current version of Morant, with his contract, baggage, and declining efficiency, is worth Minnesota blowing up a very clear identity they’ve built around Edwards of size and defense.
I’m not convinced he is. Let’s unpack it.
Where The Timberwolves Are Right Now
This is not a cute “fun young team” situation anymore. The Timberwolves are playing like a real contender.
They’re 15-8 overall with a +5.2 point differential and have one of the most efficient offenses in the league: 120.3 points per game and an estimated 119.2 points per 100 possessions, seventh in scoring offense. They shoot 48.7% from the field (7th in FG%) and an elite 38.9% from three, with 14.4 threes per game. That’s not “we got hot for two weeks,” that’s structural.
Anthony Edwards has more or less completed the superstar leap. He’s at 28.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game, over 48.8% from the field and north of 41.6% from three on high volume. This is a real No. 1 option: high usage, efficient, clutch, and already proven in playoff environments.
Julius Randle has been the perfect second option. He’s putting up 22.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per night, giving them a big man who can create, get to the line, and take pressure off Edwards as a playmaker. Rudy Gobert is still Gobert: 11 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, anchoring the glass and the back line.
Around them, it’s all about length, shooting, and IQ. Jaden McDaniels is giving them 16.0 points per game and elite wing defense. Donte DiVincenzo adds 13.7 a night, spacing, cutting, and secondary playmaking. Naz Reid comes off the bench with 13.8 and energy.
They’re top-10 in scoring, top-7 in FG%, top-4 in three-point percentage, while still sitting top-10 defensively and trending up as Gobert and the wings click.
This is important: the Timberwolves already have a clear offensive hierarchy (Edwards first, Randle second), a defensive identity built around size and rim protection, and just enough playmaking from Randle, DiVincenzo, and Mike Conley to keep the machine moving.
You don’t mess with that lightly.
Ja Morant’s Current Reality Is Not His All-NBA Peak
If this were 2021–22 Ja Morant on the table, the conversation is over. You roll every chip you have into the center and figure out the fit later. That version of Ja averaged 27.4 points and 6.7 assists on 49.3% from the field and 34.4% from three, made All-NBA, and looked like the most violent downhill guard in the league.
But that’s not who we’re talking about anymore.
Right now, in 2025-26, Morant is averaging 17.9 points, 7.6 assists, and 3.5 rebounds in 12 games, shooting a brutal 35.9% from the field and 16.7% from three. The Grizzlies are 4-8 in games he’s played and 10-13 overall, sitting ninth in the West with a bottom-10 offense (113.4 points per game, 108.8 points per 100 possessions, 23rd in offensive efficiency).
According to ESPN’s deep dive from Tim MacMahon and Bobby Marks, Morant’s shot profile has completely shifted. The percentage of his attempts at the rim has dipped every year and cratered this season: only 15.4% of his shots are within three feet, less than half of his career norm. He’s taking more jumpers, but he’s still a poor shooter, so the efficiency has fallen off a cliff.
The off-court stuff hasn’t disappeared either. Morant has been suspended multiple times over the last few years, and this season, the Grizzlies already hit him with a team suspension for “conduct detrimental” after postgame confrontations. League people are openly questioning his joy for the game and his relationship with coach Tuomas Iisalo.
That’s how you end up with executives literally calling him a “pain in the a**” on the record (anonymously). One Eastern Conference exec told ESPN the combination of “pain in the a**, injury prone, not that good anymore, and big contract is a bad one,” saying he wouldn’t want Morant on his roster at any salary.
And that contract matters. Morant’s five-year max runs through 2027-28, with $44.9 million owed in the final year. It’s not some small gamble. You’re inheriting a declining, injured, controversial guard on a full superstar money timeline.
Now, to be fair, not everyone has completely jumped off. The same article mentions some executives who still believe Morant can be “saved” in the right situation and revive his career if he needs to play for his next big contract. That’s the upside hook for a team like Minnesota.
But it’s not peak Ja on a rookie deal. It’s the Reclamation Project Ja on a max, with real decline indicators.
What Would “All-In” Actually Cost The Wolves?
Before you even talk about fit, you have to be honest about the cost.
Morant makes star money. To match salary under the cap rules, you’re not getting there with just Conley and some bench pieces. You’re almost certainly talking about one of:
- Julius Randle as the main salary anchor
- Rudy Gobert as a “start over with a different center” move
- Or a Frankenstein package of Conley, Donte DiVincenzo, Naz Reid, and young guys, plus picks
From Memphis’ side, they’re not giving Ja away for nothing, even with the negative-value chatter. Their current core around Jaren Jackson Jr., Santi Aldama, Zach Edey, Cam Spencer, Cedric Coward, etc., is scrappy but not a true ceiling-raising group. If they move Morant, they’ll want either:
- A blue-chip young piece (which Minnesota isn’t really offering. Edwards is untouchable, and everyone else is more high-end role player),
- Or multiple unprotected first-round picks and swaps.
So an “all-in” Ja offer from the Wolves probably looks like: Randle or McDaniels plus multiple unprotected picks and at least one swap with salary fillers. Or gutting their depth and future picks while keeping the main three.
In simple terms, to get Morant, the Timberwolves almost certainly give up either Randle or a ton of depth and picks.
And if you ask me, the whole reason they’re scary right now is that they finally have both: legit star power and real depth.
On-Court Fit: Ja Morant Next To Anthony Edwards
Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that the Wolves have a way to keep Edwards, Randle, and Gobert and still land Morant by throwing the entire draft cupboard at Memphis plus some salary filler.
On paper, Morant-Edwards-McDaniels-Randle-Gobert is filthy. The upside is insane. That’s:
- Two nuclear downhill threats (Ja and Ant)
- A stretchy scoring four (Randle)
- An elite rim protector who cleans up everything (Gobert)
- A 6’9 wing who guards the best scorer every night (McDaniels)
Offensively, you’d have the ball constantly in the hands of Morant and Edwards, running pick-and-roll with Gobert, attacking closeouts, kicking to Randle and DiVincenzo or whoever survives the trade as shooters. With the way Minnesota is already hitting threes (38.9 3P% from deep as a team), adding a creator who lives in the paint if he finds his rim pressure again could blow open the scheme.
But the “if” is massive.
Morant right now is more jumper-heavy, less explosive, and way less efficient. His body doesn’t look the same; he’s coming off a calf strain and a laundry list of previous injuries, and he’s openly said he’s attacked the rim less to protect himself. If he’s not bending the defense like peak Ja, you’re basically trading for a high-usage, low-efficiency guard who needs the ball a ton on a team that already has Ant as the engine.
Defensively, the fit is even more complicated.
Minnesota’s identity is built on size, discipline, and Gobert erasing mistakes. They’re long everywhere with Edwards, McDaniels, Randle, and DiVincenzo out there, and they like to funnel ball-handlers into length. Morant is 6’2, not a good defender, and brings real off-ball focus issues. You can hide one small guard; Conley’s smaller but always in the right spot, low-mistake, high-IQ. Morant is the opposite type: chaotic, gambling, not locked in.
You’re essentially trading Conley’s steadiness and connective tissue for volatility. The ceiling is higher, yes, but the floor drops.
And then there’s the hierarchy question. This is Edwards’ franchise now. He’s already been through the transition from “sharing with KAT” to “this is my team.” Bringing in another high-usage guard who still sees himself as a franchise star (and will absolutely demand the ball when it matters) can get messy.
Can Ant and Ja coexist? In theory, sure. Edwards can play off the ball, he’s a good catch-and-shoot threat, and he can defend bigger wings. Morant can run the offense and let Ant focus more on scoring. But you’re asking two alpha guards with big personalities to share oxygen in a locker room that finally feels stable. That’s not nothing.
Is This The Right Team To Gamble With?
Here’s the core of it for me.
If you’re a team stuck in the middle, like a 35-win treadmill franchise with no clear star, Ja Morant is exactly the kind of gamble you consider. Bad vibes, injuries, declining athleticism, and all. Because your alternative is irrelevance.
The Timberwolves are not that team.
They already have a 24-year-old wing who looks like a perennial All-NBA scorer in Edwards. A frontcourt that fits perfectly around him: Gobert as the defensive anchor, Randle as the secondary creator/scorer. Elite shooting metrics, legit size advantages most nights, and a top-10 offense without a star point guard, plus a rotation full of playoff-type role players: McDaniels, DiVincenzo, Reid, Conley, etc.
Their “problem” isn’t that they’re talent-starved. It’s that they still have to prove this core can translate regular-season efficiency into deep playoff adjustments. That’s a scheme problem, not a roster-construction disaster.
Now stack that against what you’re absorbing with Ja: a max contract running through 2027-28 with $44.9M in the last year. A guard whose scoring is down from 27+ to 17.9 points on a career-worst efficiency. A player whose at-rim aggression has cratered and who’s relying more on a jumper that still doesn’t fall. Multiple suspensions, clashes with a new coach, and league-wide concerns about maturity and professionalism. Executives openly saying he “might have negative value” and comparing him to the back end of the Derrick Rose/John Wall arcs.
Does that sound like the swing you take when you’re already top-six in the West without having to sell out your future?
For me, the answer is no. Not at an “all-in” price.
If Memphis ever gets desperate enough that Morant’s price collapses, then yeah, you at least sit at the table. You bet on your culture, on Gobert and Edwards and Finch keeping him in line and on the hope that his explosion comes back.
But right now, with Ja still seen as an ex-superstar and the Grizzlies just 10-13 but not totally bottomed out, that price is going to be closer to “everything that’s not named Edwards.”
I wouldn’t touch that.
Tempting Upside, Wrong Risk Profile
So, should the Timberwolves go all-in for Ja Morant?
If we’re talking pure basketball fantasy, no contracts, no personalities, peak health, the idea of a Morant-Edwards backcourt behind Gobert, with Randle as a third scorer, is ridiculous. There’s a version of that world where Minnesota is the scariest team in the league.
But we’re not in that world. We’re in the one where:
- The Timberwolves already have an elite offense, a clear hierarchy, and a rising superstar in Edwards.
- Morant is in the middle of a very loud decline season, both statistically and reputation-wise.
- His contract ties up your books deep into Ant’s prime and Gobert’s aging curve.
- And the cost to get him probably guts either your frontcourt or your depth and draft future.
If you’re the Wolves, you don’t need chaos. You need continuity, health, and more playoff reps for the group that’s already winning at a high level.
So my answer: no, Minnesota should not go all-in for Ja Morant right now.
Kick the tires if the price falls into “serious discount rehab project” territory. Monitor the situation, because unhappy stars always matter. But as of today, the Wolves look way more like a team that should target a Giannis trade more than chase a broken version of the guy Ja used to be.
