{"id":48066,"date":"2022-07-26T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=48066"},"modified":"2022-07-25T17:38:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T21:38:15","slug":"warriors-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2022\/07\/26\/warriors-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Grading the Golden State Warriors’ Trade for Andrew Wiggins"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors<\/a>\u2019 NBA Finals win<\/a> provides the perfect opportunity to revisit the path that got the team to the title<\/a>. No trades were more important to the formation of this group than the series of moves that turned <\/span>Kevin Durant<\/b><\/a> into <\/span>Andrew Wiggins<\/b><\/a> and <\/span>Jonathan Kuminga<\/b><\/a>. Of course, the Warriors\u2019 trade wasn\u2019t so simple.<\/span><\/p>\n

D\u2019Angelo Russell<\/b><\/a> signed a max contract with the Nets after being named an All-Star as an injury replacement before being traded to the Warriors. Russell moved to chilly Minnesota<\/a> after a cameo as a Warrior to fulfill former Timberwolves GM Gersson Rosas\u2019 dream. Who won the trade between Minnesota and Golden State?<\/span><\/p>\n

Grading the Golden State Warriors’ Trade for Andrew Wiggins<\/h2>\n

The History<\/b><\/h3>\n

The Warriors lost the 2019 NBA Finals in part due to Durant\u2019s Achilles tear. He was determined to leave Golden State. GM Bob Myers worked quickly to ensure the Warriors got something in exchange for Durant\u2019s departure and negotiated a sign-and-trade with the Brooklyn Nets to receive Russell.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Russell <\/span>had been discussing<\/span><\/a> a contract with Rosas and the Wolves when Myers executed the trade. Golden State had to send <\/span>Andre Iguodala<\/b><\/a> and a lightly-protected 2024 first-round pick to Memphis in order to receive Russell in a sign-and-trade, an indication of their zeal for the deal. <\/span>Stephen Curry<\/b><\/a> broke his hand five games into the 2019-2020 season, and the team never recovered. Russell was traded to Minnesota just before the 2020 deadline with the Warriors\u2019 record at 12-40.<\/span><\/p>\n

Terms of the Deal<\/b><\/h3>\n

The Warriors received: Wiggins, Minnesota\u2019s 2021 first-round pick (top-three protected; the Warriors selected Kuminga with the seventh pick)<\/span><\/p>\n

The Timberwolves received: Russell, <\/span>Jacob Evans<\/b><\/a>, <\/span>Omari Spellman<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

The Golden State Warriors\u2019 Trade Grade: A<\/b><\/h3>\n

The Warriors\u2019 title win secures an \u201cA\u201d for the Warriors. It also serves as a reminder of how long it can take to evaluate a trade fully. The Wolves needed to include their lightly-protected first-round pick because of Wiggins\u2019 low reputation league-wide. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wiggins has transformed in Golden State. He performed well as the primary defender of wing scorers in 2020-21, and defended more point guards last season. He\u2019s <\/span>scoring just<\/span><\/a> 1.7 fewer points per game<\/span><\/a> in Golden State despite the increased talent around him. He\u2019s shot 38% and 39.3% from three in his last two seasons after posting a high mark of 35.6% for Minnesota in 2016-17.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wiggins\u2019 improvement shows us the importance of a team\u2019s situation in a young player\u2019s development. He played for four coaches and five lead decision-makers in 6.5 Minnesota seasons, with surrounding expectations changing constantly. The Warriors\u2019 stability has led to a clear role for Wiggins: defend the opponents\u2019 best player, hit open threes, and score in the paint. Wiggins turned 25 just after joining the team in 2020. He\u2019s shown improvement can occur in years seven and eight of a player\u2019s career, not just in years one and two.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kuminga represents a bridge to a bright post-dynasty future for the Warriors. The coaching staff trusted him to guard <\/span>Ja Morant<\/b><\/a> and <\/span>DeMar DeRozan<\/b><\/a> last season. He\u2019s physically imposing and has flashed midrange shot creation that echoes <\/span>Kawhi Leonard<\/b><\/a>\u2019s bullying attacks. The Warriors negotiated Minnesota\u2019s pick protections well. Had the no. 7 pick not conveyed in 2021, they would have been stuck with Minnesota\u2019s no. 19 selection in the 2022 draft. The inclusion of Evans and Spellman allowed the Warriors to avoid the luxury tax in the 2019-20 season and, later, the repeater tax<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Minnesota Timberwolves\u2019 Trade Grade: C-<\/b><\/h3>\n

The Minnesota Timberwolves end up with the lower grade in this exchange but didn\u2019t \u201close\u201d the trade. The Timberwolves could never create a winning situation around Wiggins. It\u2019s unclear if Wiggins would have blossomed in the same way had he stayed in Minnesota. Russell was also an integral piece of this year\u2019s team which earned the franchise\u2019s first postseason win since Minnesota made the Conference Finals in 2004. <\/span><\/p>\n

This trade also placated Towns, who had been <\/span>rumored to be unhappy<\/span><\/a> with Minnesota before becoming Russell\u2019s teammate. He just signed a supermax extension that keeps him in Minnesota through at least the 2026-27 season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Russell\u2019s main issue throughout his career has been lackadaisical defense. He has good size but struggles to move laterally, and needs to make improvements to survive in the playoffs. The addition of <\/span>Rudy Gobert<\/b><\/a> will help, but he can\u2019t solve everything (just ask the Utah Jazz). Russell took just 3.7 free throw attempts per game last season and isn\u2019t quite the shooter his reputation suggests (35.6% for his career). In sum, Russell is an inconsistent shooter and scorer, a playmaker who rarely gets in the paint, and a non-defender. <\/span><\/p>\n

He has time to address these weaknesses at 26, but he\u2019ll need to do so quickly with the Timberwolves trying to win now. The ascending <\/span>Anthony Edwards<\/b><\/a> will take more ball-handling duties as he improves, which could lessen Russell\u2019s importance to the franchise long-term. Towns\u2019 happiness is more important than anything else, however, and that takes this grade from a \u201cD\u201d to a \u201cC-\u201d for Minnesota. Wolves fans must ignore the parallel reality where Kuminga, Towns, and Edwards (and Wiggins and maybe Gobert?) play in Minneapolis. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors\u2019 NBA Finals win provides the perfect opportunity to revisit the path that got the team to the title. No trades were more important to the formation of this group than the series of moves that turned Kevin Durant into Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga. Of course, the Warriors\u2019 trade wasn\u2019t so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4175,"featured_media":48111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,25],"tags":[212,307,182,214,1167,4557],"class_list":["post-48066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-warriors","tag-andrew-wiggins","tag-dangelo-russell","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-nba-off-season","tag-nba-offseason"],"modified_by":"Kunning Chen, Department Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}