By Sam Amick and Jon Krawczynski
Tim Connelly has built a reputation for being a risk-taker since taking over as the Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations three years ago. He has swung major trades for Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley and traded Karl-Anthony Towns to New York just before training camp opened last fall.
As the clock ticked down on the NBA’s trade deadline on Thursday, Connelly was looking for ways to pull off his biggest deal yet. The Phoenix Suns had been entertaining trades for Kevin Durant over the previous few days, with a possible reunion with the Golden State Warriors among the considerations.
Connelly and the Timberwolves explored getting into the Durant sweepstakes in an effort to unite him with his Olympic pal, Anthony Edwards, team sources told The Athletic. Timberwolves sources believed Durant would have been open to coming to Minnesota.
Ultimately, nothing really came close to fruition, team sources said, though there was a swell of hope as the day wore on. As a second apron team, the Wolves would have had to pull off a series of maneuvers and part with a significant number of players to pull the deal off. In the end, there were too many hoops to jump through for it to be feasible, team sources said.
Still, it’s a juicy little what-if, first reported by Chris Haynes, that would have been a major headline-grabber during one of the busiest trade deadlines the league has ever seen.
“Batman and Robin,” one team source mused.
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Kevin Durant + Anthony Edwards? Inside Timberwolves’ NBA trade deadline what-if scenario