How completely different would the Timberwolves’ season be if they’d acquired Brandon Ingram as an alternative of Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo? In keeping with Sham Charania, ESPN NBA InsiderMinnesota confirmed a “degree of curiosity” in Ingram earlier than reaching a cope with the Knicks.
“The Pelicans mentioned trades with a number of groups over the summer time, however no concrete supply made sense. The Minnesota Timberwolves confirmed some curiosity, sources advised ESPN, they usually reportedly needed to elaborate a business idea round Karl-Anthony Cities for Ingram,” Charania reported Tuesday.
Ingram not too long ago suffered a sprained ankle and is out indefinitely, however he was taking part in at a excessive degree for New Orleans this season. By way of 18 video games, he averaged 22.2 factors, 5.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists with capturing occasions of 46.5/37.4/85.5.
Cities had a mean annual wage of $31.65 million on his earlier contract and Ingram had a cap hit of $33.8 million final season, so a deal between Minnesota and New Orleans seemingly would have been constructed round these two gamers.
Randle is averaging 20.4 factors, 7.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per recreation this season, which isn’t far off Ingram and each gamers are within the last yr of their respective contracts, though that Randle has a participant choice for 2025-26 if he needs. run with it as an alternative of testing free company.
Minnesota additionally bought DiVincenzo and a future first-round decide within the cope with the Knicks, but it surely’s unclear if New Orleans would have added to the bundle.
Randle has solely performed 23 video games in a Timberwolves uniform, so it nonetheless appears somewhat untimely to see if Minnesota made the suitable alternative. In the end, the most important takeaway from this report must be that Minnesota’s entrance workplace had its eyes elsewhere earlier than making a cope with New York — and it is clearer now than ever that Cities’ contract was the one which Wolves had been seeking to abandon.
