2019-20 Finish: 20-62 (13th in West)

Season Highlight: 

Devonte Graham’s breakout

Graham’s rating in 2k19 started at 69 but is now at 79 at the launch of 2k21. He went from just 6.7 minutes a game in 2018-19 to starting 57 games and playing 28.6 minutes in 2019-20 with averages of 12 points and 5.8 assists. Whether the 25-year old is a keeper or will be sold for the rebuild, this was a stroke of luck for Minnesota.

Season Lowlight: 

Watching C.J. McCollum go off in Dallas

I’ll go over why I thought the decision to trade McCollum may turn out to be a great move in just a moment (literally the next section), but seeing McCollum get multiple Player of the Week awards and push Dallas up to the second seed in the Western Conference couldn’t have been easy. McCollum upped nearly all of his averages after the move and became an NLL sensation in the Lone Star State.

Best Trade: 

Minnesota sends Justin Holiday, C.J. McCollum, Noah Vonleh and 15 GM points to Dallas for Gordon Hayward, Cam Reddish and three 2nd-round picks

Hayward did not live up to his billing as a replacement for McCollum in his short T-Wolves tenure but there’s reportedly a sign-and-trade deal on the table for Minnesota which could feed into the rebuild of which Cam Reddish will be part of. Depending on that sign-and-trade return, if it does materialize, this trade could be a home run down the road.

Worst Trade: 

Minnesota sends Courtney Lee, Frank Kaminsky and Lonzo Ball to New York for Serge Ibaka, Kris Dunn and 1st-rounder

In my trade deadline grades insider I gave this deal a D grade for Minnesota and I’m going to stand by that. Dunn is likely to walk, as is Ibaka. That leaves the return for Lonzo Ball effectively just Tyrell Terry, the man picked with that first-rounder. That’s a lot of expectation to put on Terry.

Other Trades:

— Minnesota sends Royce O’Neale to Orlando Magic for 2nd-Rounder

This was the only other actual trade for the 2019-20 season. A simple trade that yielded a high second-round pick in this past draft which allowed Minny to take Malachi Flynn and Vernon Carey Jr. back-to-back.

Star: Kevin Love

Love is perpetually underrated in the NBA and his 2k rating reflects that, but he still finds ways to produce. He put up 17/12 this past season. His 3-point shooting was a tad low at just 36%, but he remains a solid player. But while he’s good, he won’t ruin any tank rebuild. He is really overpaid though which makes it hard to justify putting Love in this section while a certain small forward is in the next one…

Goat: Gordan Hayward

Whether or not Minny regrets moving for Hayward (or whether or not I say they should) it’s clear Hayward is not worth the money he gets paid. His 2k attributes suggest a good scorer and solid wing defender, but it just doesn’t show on the court. Just 15.4 points generated but paid $30+ million.

Free Agency:

Eight players on Minnesota are set to be free agents, though that’s including Hayward who is due to be part of a sign-and-trade. That leaves Serge Ibaka, Kris Dunn, Jakob Poeltl, Jordan McLaughlin, Brandon Knight, Kelan Martin and Dewan Hernandez. Jonathan has 55 GM points to work with so he could keep a few guys around for the future, but Ibaka and Dunn have F loyalty so there’s not much room to be hopeful to retain those guys to potentially sell for parts.

Draft Grade:

To quote my own draft grades (with Brayden and Nenjabin’s grades interspersed).

—  Jaden McDaniels (25th): D

McDaniels has a lot of believers but believing is about all you can do with McDaniels. There’s very little about his on-court production right now to justify being a top pick. I know people are tantalized by his measurables, but his brother, Jalen, was almost the exact same prospect and he went 52nd in 2019 and hasn’t shown what is largely the same potential.

Brayden’s Grade for McDaniels: A-

—  Tyrell Terry (27th): B-

Terry is a fantastic shooter, but it’s everything else I’d be worried about. At best he’s a bench spark and at 27th given he’s not a true point guard who doesn’t have the length to play on the wing. I think there were better guys on the table at this pick.

Brayden’s Grade for Terry: B+

— Malachi Flynn (32nd): A

Flynn was one of the bigger sleepers in mock drafts early on. He did rise as people caught on, but in the NLL he probably fell further than he should. He’s small but has a big game and can be a solid starter for most NBA teams. Finding that at 32 is a great find.

Brayden’s Grade for Flynn: B+

— Vernon Carey Jr (33rd): B

Carey may have trouble transitioning defensively, but his shooting potential could keep him in the league easily if he can up the volume and stay at the 38 percent he shot in college.

Brayden’s Grade for Carey Jr: C

JWalk’s Overall Grade: B

Nenjabin’s Team Grade: B+

The Future:

Minnesota seems to be in the slow process of outlasting the untradeable Kevin Love contract while trying to gather enough assets to build a young squad. There are some preliminary pieces like Cam Reddish and the draft picks Jaden McDaniels, Malachi Flynn, and Vernon Carey Jr., but there’s a lot of work to be done. Luckily, the T-Wolves currently hold all of their first-round draft picks through the 2023 draft so adding more pieces to the young corps is a readily available possibility.