{"id":82457,"date":"2025-06-07T06:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T06:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/82457\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T06:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T06:36:10","slug":"paul-pierce-urges-minnesota-to-trade-rudy-gobert-and-mike-conley-a-couple-of-pieces-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/82457\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Pierce urges Minnesota to trade Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley: “A couple of pieces away”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Pierce urges Minnesota to trade Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley: “A couple of pieces away”<\/a> originally appeared on Basketball Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite losing in the Western Conference Finals to the Oklahoma City Thunder, it’s clear the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> are on an upward trajectory. With standout guard Anthony Edwards steadily rising into the ranks of the league’s elite players, the Wolves have a solid foundation on which to build their future.<\/p>\n

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However, as is always the case when building a contender in the NBA, money issues might get in the way. With former Sixth Man of the Year winner Naz Reid and All-Star Julius Randle yet to announce what they’ll do with their player options and reserve guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker entering free agency, the Wolves need to be smart about their offseason moves.<\/p>\n

According to Hall of Famer Paul Pierce<\/a>, the Timberwolves should consider trading veterans Rudy Gobert<\/a> and Mike Conley Jr. to upgrade their team at those players’ respective positions.<\/p>\n

The Gobert dilemma<\/p>\n

On paper, the 7’1″ Frenchman boasts an impressive resume that includes winning the coveted Defensive Player of the Year award a record four times. He has also been an All-Star thrice and a member of the All-NBA Team four times in his 12-year career. However, his impact dwindles when the postseason arrives, as opposing teams often play him off the floor by using quicker and smaller lineups.<\/p>\n

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While Gobert is undoubtedly a valuable asset on defense, his offensive limitations and postseason struggles may make him a less-than-ideal long-term choice for the Wolves.<\/p>\n

“I got to look to explore the possibility of trading Rudy Gobert. ‘Cause I looked at the last two years and, you know, Rudy Gobert has been solid for them for the regular season, but I think he kind of got exposed in the conference finals the last two years. And he don’t give up enough production for him being on the floor for the amount of time,” Pierce said<\/a> on the “Ticket & The Truth” podcast.<\/p>\n

In the West finals, Gobert averaged a mere 5.8 points and 6.6 rebounds in 26 minutes per game.<\/p>\n

“The Truth” also suggested that the Wolves consider upgrading from Conley, who just completed his 18th season in the league. At 37, the veteran left-handed guard is clearly feeling the effects of time catching up with him and may be starting to lose that battle.<\/p>\n

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“I got to look to explore upgrading Conley. I like Conley in the locker room, but I need a younger guard right there,” Pierce surmised. “Cole Anthony \u2014 He’ll be a cool fit for, uh, you know, Minnesota.”<\/p>\n

Related: “God, if you let me get through this, I won’t play no more” – Larry Bird describes the moment that made him retire for good<\/a><\/p>\n

Don’t make drastic changes<\/p>\n

Pierce advised the Timberwolves’ decision-makers against making sweeping changes to a team that has reached the conference finals in back-to-back seasons. With Ant, Jaden McDaniels and Donte DiVincenzo, the Wolves have a core that has proven itself capable of going toe-to-toe against the West’s best teams.<\/p>\n

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“I got to re-sign them pieces. We went to the conference finals two years in a row. See, this is what I don’t like \u2014 when teams go to the conference finals and they make drastic changes. No. You got there, you got to build on what you got,” the former Kansas Jayhawk stated.<\/p>\n

“So, like a couple pieces away. If I can get younger at the point guard \u2014 I don’t know if that’s trading Conley or just bringing him off the bench. If I can get some value for Gobert, I would like to do that. And then see where we at,” he added.<\/p>\n

This offseason figures to be a crucial one for Minnesota. With Edwards leading the charge, they have an undisputed superstar who can put this franchise on his back and carry them deep into the postseason. It’s now a question of which players fit best alongside him.<\/p>\n

Related: Mike Conley likens Rudy Gobert\u2019s impact to LeBron, Stephen Curry: \u201cPeople gameplan for him like they gameplan for others\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network<\/a> on Jun 7, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Pierce urges Minnesota to trade Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley: “A couple of pieces away” originally appeared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[375,7,372,377,376,4210,307,152,3954,520,6,379,179,2078,373,308,827],"class_list":{"0":"post-82457","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-basketball","10":"tag-donte-divincenzo","11":"tag-jaden-mcdaniels","12":"tag-julius-randle","13":"tag-mike-conley-jr","14":"tag-minnesota","15":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","16":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","17":"tag-naz-reid","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-nickeil-alexander-walker","20":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","21":"tag-paul-pierce","22":"tag-rudy-gobert","23":"tag-timberwolves","24":"tag-wolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114640701616222708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82457","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=82457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}