![\"Minnesota](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/NBA-Memphis-Grizzlies-at-Dallas-Mavericks-tagreuters-com2024newsml_mt1usatoday24902510505411255-scal.jpeg\")
Credit: USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Minnesota Timberwolves are currently slated to pick No. 28 overall in Tuesday\u2019s NBA Draft. From the sounds of it, though, Wolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly has little to no interest in actually making that pick.<\/p>\n
Instead, Connelly\u2019s been working<\/a> for weeks\/months trying to trade the 28th pick in tomorrow\u2019s draft away, in exchange for something that can help transform Minnesota into a legitimate NBA Finals contender more quickly.<\/p>\n Minnesota looking for blockbuster trade up or out of the first round<\/p>\n According to Timberwolves insider and beat writer Jon Krawczynski (The Athletic)<\/a>, Connelly is exploring a couple of different paths to getting what he wants\u2026 but one seems a heckuva lot easier to travel than the other.<\/p>\n The first is no surprise, but it\u2019s the increasingly more difficult path. It\u2019s no secret Minnesota\u2019s been trying to trade for a star-caliber veteran guard\/wing to pair in the backcourt with Anthony Edwards for years. It\u2019s been difficult, and isn\u2019t getting easier.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a surprise workout over the weekend<\/a> with Labarion Philon Jr. \u2014 who\u2019s expected to hear his name called in the first 15 picks Tuesday night \u2014 has suddenly opened an avenue to a possible trade up in the first round.<\/p>\n President of basketball operations Tim Connelly has been canvassing the league looking for trade opportunities, team and league sources told\u00a0The Athletic.\u00a0They were granted anonymity because talks are ongoing and no deals have been completed. The Wolves\u2019 scenarios include trading the 28th pick as part of a package for a veteran or moving up in the first round.<\/p>\n Jon Krawczynski \u2013 The Athletic<\/a><\/p>\n While Jon remains skeptical over the timing and circumstances surrounding Philon Jr.\u2019s visit to Minneapolis over the weekend, he (along with the rest of the basketball world) remains convinced that the MN Timberwolves will find some sort of blockbuster move to hang their hat on this offseason.<\/p>\n Connelly is itching to make a deal after he fell short in his pursuits for Kevin Durant<\/a> before the 2025 trade deadline, then missing on Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> back in February. However, he doesn\u2019t want to get desperate either.<\/p>\n Timberwolves falling short in trade conversations\u2026<\/p>\n And still, the expectation remains, whatever talent Connelly finds, he\u2019ll play in the backcourt. However, even Krawczynski is struggling to figure out where that guard help is going to come from.<\/p>\n Wanna start with Kyrie Irving? Jon says the Wolves have been out on him for \u201csome time\u201d. Thus, trade talks with the Mavericks appear dead. Unfortunately, it\u2019s not looking good on the Derrick White or Josh Giddey fronts either, despite recent reports<\/a> that the Timberwolves are interested.<\/p>\n Actually, from the sounds of it, Connelly appears to be falling short of asking price with all these guards, in general.<\/p>\n Whether [Dallas\u2019 determination to keep Kyrie Irving] is genuine or they do not like what the Wolves have to offer is unclear and, ultimately, irrelevant. The Wolves have been looking elsewhere for guard help for some time.<\/p>\n Minnesota has been most aggressive in pursuing White\u2026 [who] turns 32 next month\u2026 but so far the Celtics have rebuffed the Wolves\u2019 advances. Giddey is another intriguing name\u2026 But the Wolves have not received indications that the Bulls are willing to deal him, at least for what Minnesota can offer.<\/p>\n Jon Krawczynski \u2013 The Athletic<\/a><\/p>\n Unless the MN Timberwolves plan to put more on the table during trade talks over the next 24 hours, they may be making their pick at No. 28 (or trading up<\/a>) after all.<\/p>\n What about Ja Morant?<\/p>\n Or maybe\u2026 Connelly is lying in the weeds for Ja Morant<\/a>? That\u2019s what some have been wondering lately, as the Wolves seemingly fall out of other trade sweepstakes. And notably, Jon K. didn\u2019t include any Morant steam in the article you\u2019ve read clips from above.<\/p>\n Well, the longtime Timberwolves insider got on KFAN Radio<\/a> Monday evening where he explained why Ja Morant was left off his trade speculation piece from earlier that same day.<\/p>\n It\u2019s because, at the time his article was posted, he was not caught up enough with his sources on the Morant situation<\/a>, and any interest Minnesota might have. However, he did bring an update to his appearance with Dan Barreiro.<\/p>\n Surprise, the Wolves aren\u2019t interested in him either, and this time I cannot blame them. Too much baggage.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cInitially, I\u2019ll be completely honest, I didn\u2019t have a great read on the situation. I didn\u2019t feel confident enough one way or the other, to put something in print and kind of just throw it out there. So I kept him out initially because of that. I needed some more information, needed to talk to more people.<\/p>\n As things stand right now, after having more conversations throughout the today, I don\u2019t believe that Ja [Morant] is on the Timberwolves\u2019 radar right now. I think, a combination of the money he makes. All the things he\u2019s gone through injury-wise and off-the-court-wise, I just think there\u2019s a lot of stuff going on there.<\/p>\n So on the list of players that the Wolves are trying to figure things out on, I just don\u2019t think Ja is on there right now. Could that change if they swing and miss a bunch, and get a little desperate, I\u2019m not going to rule that out. But as of right now, I don\u2019t think that Ja Morant is in the Timberwolves\u2019 thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n Jon Krawczynski \u2013 KFAN Radio<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned in this article: Ja Morant<\/a> Kyrie Irving<\/a> NBA Draft<\/a> NBA Offseason<\/a> NBA Trade Rumors<\/a> <\/p>\n More About:Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"Add](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/google_preferred_source_badge.png\"){kind=icon}
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect The Minnesota Timberwolves are currently slated to pick No. 28 overall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,294,178,967,293,177,4070,6,12,2085,1783],"class_list":["post-768028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-memphis-grizzlies","tag-basketball","tag-grizzlies","tag-ja-morant","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-memphis","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-memphisgrizzlies","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft","tag-nba-offseason","tag-nba-trade-rumors"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116796697244420699","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768028","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=768028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}