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Report: MN Timberwolves Not a Serious Bidder for Superstar Guard
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- Report: MN Timberwolves Not a Serious Bidder for Superstar Guard
Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
If you are one of the handful of top-level NBA decision-makers whose team is rumored to have a star-caliber player available before the 2026 NBA trade deadline , the future of everything around you probably feels foggy.
Thankfully for you, at this moment of difficulty, one thing can be guaranteed. Soon after word gets out on your newly-available asset, the phone is going to ring. And on the other end of that call will be Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, ready to flesh out the situation.
Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images
According to reports from insiders throughout the NBA in recent months , Minnesota has shown interest in pretty much every high-end player rumored to be disgruntled, or on the way out of their current situation, for one reason or another.
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While there has been some steam linking them to Giannis Antetokounmpo , the list of reported targets made mostly point guards, including Kyrie Irving , Darius Garland , Coby White and Ja Morant , among others.
Ja Morant to Minnesota Timberwolves unlikely to happen
Of course, the path to making a deal is going to be easier in some places than others, which brings us back to Morant. The Timberwolves may be interested in the Grizzlies ' "superstar" point guard, but actually making a deal happen will be a completely different story, thanks to the league's luxury tax rules.
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According to NBA insider John Hollinger (The Athletic) , because of the Timberwolves' current cap/luxury tax situation, they'd have to "trade Naz Reid and at least three other players" to jump all through all the hoops it'd take to acquire Morant.
Teams such as the Clippers and Wolves are so handcuffed money-wise that it's hard to see them as serious bidders for Morant.
The Wolves are another team in the lukewarm waters. They would possibly have more interest if it weren't for those pesky salary-cap rules, but it's hard to put together a cap-compliant trade that lets them take in Morant's $39 million salary while staying below the second apron.
They would likely need to trade Naz Reid and at least three other players, and they don't have the depth to withstand Morant only playing half the schedule.
At this point in Ja's career, even at only 26 years old , trading Naz Reid for Ja Morant straight up might not be worth it, given the headache Morant has proven to be off the floor.
That's why the price of doing business with Memphis is expected to be far too great for Tim Connelly & Co, especially when you consider Ja's reeling basketball stock recently.
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