The James Harden saga rages on and every day it looks more and more likely that Harden will not finish the season in Houston. The Brooklyn Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers have been the most talked-about destinations because Harden apparently has them at the top of his list, but the Minnesota Timberwolves could be a dark horse.

However, superstars often get traded to places that are not on their reported lists. Kawhi Leonard was sent to Toronto, Kristaps Porzingis was sent to Dallas, and Paul George was traded to Oklahoma City after all-but openly demanding a trade to the Lakers.

On the daily Locked On Wolves Podcast, host Ben Beecken explains why the Timberwolves could be a dark horse trade destination but they would have to wait for a few months to pull off the best deal.

Ben Beecken: We know that Gerson Rosas wants to improve the roster and that's what he should want to do so you have to explore any possible trade for James Harden. A trade for Harden could only happen months down the road. The reason why the Wolves can't do it now is that they're not going to trade Towns and they're not going to trade Russell, they're just  not. You could theoretically include Russell in the trade for Harden, but I'm not sure the Rockets would do that and I'm not sure that it really makes a ton of sense.

So if the Timberwolves wanted to try and make this work, they'd have to wait until some other recently signed and acquired players were eligible to be traded. So in the case of Anthony Edwards who was drafted, they'd have to wait 30 days after he signs his rookie contract. So it looks like late December, roughly three weeks from now when the Wolves could trade Anthony Edwards and of course, his contract is under $10 million. So they would need a ton of other pieces to make the math work. Malik Beasley cannot be traded until the end of February because of his recent signing, Ricky Rubio couldn't be traded until December 9, which is this week, and because of the shortened season, they are allowing that restriction to be lifted.

I really don't think the Wolves acquired Rubio or re-signed Beasley to simply to turn around and trade them but if James Harden becomes available, and the Rockets are somehow interested in a package of Anthony Edwards, Malik Beasley, Ricky Rubio, and a pick that does get it done financially. I just don't think that's going to be the best offer the Rockets receive.