{"id":68979,"date":"2025-05-31T22:41:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T22:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/68979\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T22:41:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T22:41:32","slug":"austin-rivers-names-the-two-star-players-minnesota-timberwolves-need-to-axe-to-become-a-better-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/68979\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Rivers names the two star players Minnesota Timberwolves need to axe to become a better team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following Minnesota\u2019s playoff elimination, rebuild conversations are intensifying around the franchise. Most discussions focus on how the Timberwolves should complement cornerstone Anthony Edwards.<\/p>\n

This season, Edwards received help from Julius Randle<\/a> after Minnesota traded Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> to New York. However, the result remained unchanged: another Western Conference<\/a> Finals exit.<\/p>\n

Rivers believes Randle is the wrong fit next to Edwards<\/p>\n

Former Minnesota player Austin Rivers<\/a> joined the debate with a controversial take. He believes two specific players must be cut to maximize Edwards\u2019 potential.<\/p>\n

The first player on Rivers\u2018 list is Randle. Rivers argues Edwards<\/a> needs guard partnerships rather than star forwards like Randle.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy thing is Julius next to Ant. It\u2019s always been this, they started playing really well as a team and everybody can\u2019t stop him. And then they ran into a team that, like, really defends, and it\u2019s just been nasty,\u201d Rivers explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would rather, instead of having a second star being a forward, it\u2019s not a Julius thing, it\u2019s a position thing. For me, I would rather him be paired with another guard,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d rather Ant be with seven guards on his team and then just get a couple lob threats down low who could just run and jump.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OklahomaPhoto by David Berding\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The second target is Rudy Gobert<\/a>, whose production doesn\u2019t match his hefty contract. Against Oklahoma City, Gobert managed just 29 points and 33 rebounds across five games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite earning $36.5 million annually, Gobert averaged only 7.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 0.7 assists throughout the entire postseason. Rivers believes that salary could be better utilized elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like Rudy. Rudy gets paid a lot. You can use that to go get like a decent big man who can run and jump and a guard and a pick. I don\u2019t know what his value is, but maybe not that anymore, but still,\u201d Rivers stated.<\/p>\n

\"PhoenixPhoto by David Berding\/Getty ImagesRivers proposes surrounding Edwards with speed and athleticism<\/p>\n

His vision involves radical roster construction around Edwards. \u201cI would rather have Ant with like, six or seven guards and then a couple wings and a couple, just all you have to do is rebound block, and I don\u2019t need a star center. I don\u2019t need a star power forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI already got Naz Reid<\/a> anyway, if I need some scoring, just gonna get you a guy who can run and jump and block. Remember how Clint Capela was with Houston, go and get you something like that,\u201d Rivers concluded.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following Minnesota\u2019s playoff elimination, rebuild conversations are intensifying around the franchise. Most discussions focus on how the Timberwolves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[375,3664,7,376,307,152,3954,6,373,308,574],"class_list":{"0":"post-68979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-anthony-edwards","9":"tag-austin-rivers","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-julius-randle","12":"tag-minnesota","13":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","14":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-rudy-gobert","17":"tag-timberwolves","18":"tag-western-conference"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114604859967648207","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}