NBA Trade Rumors: Minnesota Timberwolves want to swap No.1 pick for a win-now player

Ever since the Minnesota Timberwolves won the 2020 NBA Draft lottery and were awarded the number one overall pick, NBA trade rumors started speculating what they were gonna do with it. The franchise didn't hide their intentions either with president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas making it known that the Timberwolves were willing to listen to offers.

NBA Trade Rumors: Minnesota Timberwolves want a win-now player in exchange for their first overall pick

When the Minnesota Timberwolves made the trade for D'Angelo Russell earlier this year, they made it fairly clear that they aren't interested in being a lottery team much longer. They managed to end their playoff drought in 2018 but a Jimmy Butler trade later, they were back to mediocrity in the Western Conference.

D'Angelo Russell

The Minnesota Timberwolves finally have the chance to add a critical piece to their roster this season, but they intend to do so via an NBA trade and not through the draft. While going over the latest iteration of his mock draft, Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer reported the following:

"Executives around the NBA say the Timberwolves prefer to trade down or out of this pick to bring in a win-now player to help Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell."

O'Connor added that if the Minnesota Timberwolves do keep hold of their pick, they're likely to draft Georgia stalwart, Anthony Edwards.

HoopFiends NBA Mock Draft 🏀💉# 1 @Timberwolves 6-5 - SG - Anthony Edwards - @UGABasketball (@theantman05 ) pic.twitter.com/3opmxF0noY

— Hoop Fiends 🏀💉 (@hoopfiends) October 13, 2020

Minnesota Timberwolves' win-now mindset

Drafting a young draft prospect with huge upside might be the financially sound decision for the Minnesota Timberwolves but it's evident that they want to make a playoff push. So that makes the option of going through the slow burn implausible.

Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders

Now D'Angelo Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns are both great players to have. But given the loaded nature of the West, don't expect them to pull off a miracle all by themselves, especially given that the two first need to find their rhythm with one another.

how it started: how it's going: pic.twitter.com/Hoxe9LPtFe

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) October 6, 2020

If the Minnesota Timberwolves foray into the trade market for a third star, a defensive stalwart has to be their priority because, bluntly put, neither Russell nor Towns is good at it.

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