The Timberwolves have landed a star point guard in LaMelo Ball, but have traded away a significant portion of their draft assets and a defensive anchor in Naz Reid to do so.
According to Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports, before the Timberwolves decided to pursue LaMelo Ball, they were looking at players like James Harden and Ja Morant to potentially fill that role.
“Teams like Minnesota and Toronto — franchises that had been extremely aggressive in pursuing upgrades — found themselves with an opportunity to improve their fortunes,” wrote Iko in his latest report.
“The Wolves, after sending Julius Randle to Brooklyn, were left with a $33 million trade exception and a cap book $66 million leaner, while continuing to signal intentions to add a quality point guard, sources say (a pursuit that at one time included Cleveland’s James Harden and Memphis’ Ja Morant).”
“The Raptors, who league sources say have been signaling buyer’s remorse on recent signings, had been finding it difficult to make additional moves and expressed a willingness to involve themselves in the trade rumor mill.”
The Timberwolves and the Raptors were said to be leading the race for Ball, but the Timberwolves seem to have been looking for star additions ever since they got eliminated in the playoffs.
They first reportedly looked at Kyrie Irving before they considered moves like James Harden and Ja Morant. But the Mavericks’ front office has long-term plans for Irving.
On the other hand, James Harden is coming off a roller coaster of a playoff performance, where even though he may not have dropped 30 points per game on average anymore, his playmaking and clutch shotmaking allowed the Cavaliers to remain in contention until they got swept in the Eastern Conference Finals by the eventual champions, the Knicks.
Since he joined in a midseason trade, he played only 44 games in the Cavaliers jersey (including the playoffs), where he averaged 20.0 points, 6.8 assists, and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 44.3% from the field and 37.9% from beyond the three-point line. Harden is expected to decline his $42.3 million player option to re-sign on a two-year, $60 million extension with the Cavaliers.
Meanwhile, Ja Morant has become a recurring name in trade rumors amid his fallout with the Grizzlies coaching staff and front office. Multiple sources have reported that teams are asking to attach picks to help the Grizzlies offload Morant’s expensive contract. Thus leading to a breakdown of negotiations in most cases.
Morant no longer plays like his athletically gifted self, who was drafted into the league as a potential superstar. The former All-Star ended last season averaging 19.5 points, 8.1 assists, and 3.3 rebounds in just 20 games played as he struggled to stay healthy. He shot 41.0% from the field and 23.5% from beyond the arc.
Earlier, Kelly Iko also explained the early red flags that indicated that Ball’s time in Charlotte could be coming to an end.
“Interest around the league concerning the 24-year-old lead guard had begun circulating months before, when early-season tensions and a rough acclimation process led to serious questions about Ball’s future in Charlotte,” wrote Iko.
“Ball responded by settling into head coach Charles Lee’s egalitarian offensive system, ceding fewer touches while still maintaining engine control, resulting in a 99th percentile offensive efficiency impact, spearheading the NBA’s most lethal five-man regular-season pairing and second-half surge that resulted in 44 wins.”
So it is clear that Ball is looking to change the unpleasant murmurs around the league about his leadership skills. He ended last season averaging 20.1 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 40.7% from the field and 36.8% from beyond the arc.
In objective terms, James Harden, alongside Anthony Edwards, still made sense to me. Since Harden is an elite playmaker for a scorer like Edwards.
But Morant would have been a seriously bad choice since he no longer brings anything extremely impactful to the table and does not draw as much attention on the perimeter as Harden does.
Ball just brings three-point shooting to the table over Morant. He may be an equally bad choice as Morant. Among the three players they were considering, the Timbewolves seem to have landed the second-best among the options in terms of fit with their star player.
It will surely be fascinating to see how a player like LaMelo Ball now fits alongside Anthony Edwards on the Timberwolves, as the former Hornets guard looks to change the narrative and reputation he has around the league.
