Yahoo Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor and NBA contributing writer Tom Haberstroh examine what the Minnesota Timberwolves could potentially offer up to Milwaukee in a potential Giannis trade. Check out the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
Minnesota, they made an offer to Milwaukee last summer for Giannis, and Milwaukee had no interest in that.
But what Minnesota’s hoping for in this whole saga is that Giannis says, “Minnesota or nobody else.
Minnesota or nothing.
I’ll just s- wait till free agency.”
And then in that case, Milwaukee, maybe they give Giannis what he wants.
And so I, I don’t- like, Minnesota doesn’t have the most assets on paper to put in a deal for Giannis.
They have pick swaps in ’28 and ’32.
You know, so what?
They have Rob Dillingham, who has looked like a bust so far, and Terrence Shannon, who’s a good young player, but not, like, a big haul, and Yoan Barange, who’s shown flashes as an athletic center, but he’s very, very raw.
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And then they have Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, Julius Randle.
McDaniels or Reid, you know, McDaniels is 25, Naz is 26.
They might, they might be guys M- Milwaukee would want, but they’re not a haul.
Gobert?
Gobert, you know, he got five first-round picks, when Utah traded him.
He’s still an elite center.
Julius Randle, still an All-Star caliber player despite flaws, and so maybe Minnesota wouldn’t want Julius Randle or Rudy Gobert or Naz Reid or Jaden McDaniels, but maybe they would want what those players could get in a three-way scenario.
And so that’s, that’s what I think.
If Minnesota is involved with Giannis, now, I don’t think it’s a straight-up Minnesota-Milwaukee deal.
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I think it would have to be a complicated three- or four-way deal where Gobert gets sent to a, a center-needy team, and Randle gets sent somewhere else, or Naz Reid gets sent somewhere else, and then those picks or assets or young players or whatever the haul is, that gets directed towards the Milwaukee Bucks.
I really think that’s the only way that Minnesota lands Giannis.
With that said, though, Tom, like, let’s say the, the, the Wolves do get Giannis, and they keep Rudy Gobert, who is so important to their team as a, as a defensive player, of course.
They suck on defense without him.
They’re great with him.
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Can Gobert and Giannis work, two, you know, interior players?
That throwback-style combination, would you see that as a combination that can c- that can contend in today’s NBA?
It’d be tough, man, especially if you lose Jaden McDaniels in that deal, ’cause I don’t see how else you’re gonna be able to land Giannis Antetokounmpo.
I agree.
Like, if, if you are getting Giannis, you’re get- you’re getting saying sayonara to Jaden McDaniels.
There’s just no w- no way around it.
I don’t see how that would happen.
but you’re right.
For, for Minnesota, there are a lot of questions of fit with Rudy Gobert and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
At this stage of their careers, it’s not like you can teach an old dog new tricks-