The Minnesota Timberwolves pulled off one of the biggest blockbuster trades of the summer when they successfully pried Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz. It came at quite a cost for the Wolves too, but they knew that they had to draw the line somewhere.
Timberwolves team owner Glen Taylor recently made a guest appearance on a podcast and he opened up about how one particular factor nearly derailed the Gobert deal. Apparently, the Jazz wanted to include incoming third-year forward Jaden McDaniels in the deal. Minnesota was adamant about keeping the 21-year-old, and according to Taylor, this factor “prolonged the trade talks for a while.”
The Jazz still took quite a historic haul for the former Defensive Player of the Year, which came in the form of Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Walker Kessler, Leandro Bolmaro, and no less than five future first-round picks. The fact that the Wolves gave up a ton of assets for Gobert without letting go of McDaniels speaks volumes of how much value they see in Jaden.
Taylor also addressed the doubts that have been raised with regard to Rudy Gobert playing alongside Karl-Anthony Towns (h/t Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors):
“What I did when [team president Tim Connelly] and [head coach Chris Finch] talked to me about this trade is to ask (Finch) is there a system that he knows how to utilize these players,” Taylor said. “And he was very confident that he did understand how to utilize their skill sets, being two big guys. We talked about a lot, so he convinced me that this is something that is going to take us to a winning situation, and gave us the go-ahead to make the trade.”
In the end, the Timberwolves got what they want out of the deal. They now have a very intriguing lineup ahead of the new season, and a lot of eyes will be on Minnesota as a potential darkhorse in the West.
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