{"id":89768,"date":"2024-08-10T09:17:16","date_gmt":"2024-08-10T13:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=89768"},"modified":"2024-08-10T09:58:54","modified_gmt":"2024-08-10T13:58:54","slug":"nba-rumors-timberwolves-anthony-edwards-could-request-trade__trashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/10\/nba-rumors-timberwolves-anthony-edwards-could-request-trade__trashed\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Rumors: Timberwolves Franchise Star Could Request Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As Glen Taylor and Alex Rodriguez <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/20\/mlb-legend-nears-deal-to-purchase-nba-franchise\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">quarrel over ownership<\/a> of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the domino effect could have larger ramifications than previously imagined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf (Taylor) keeps the team,\u201d Dan Le Batard reports on his eponymous podcast, \u201cwhat\u2019s going to happen after that is they\u2019re going to lose their team president, Tim Connelly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(Connelly\u2019s) going to leave because he signed a long-term deal with the (Rodriguez) team,\u201d Le Batard continues. \u201cI believe it\u2019s contingent on (Rodriguez) being the owner. I think everybody thought that (Rodriguez) was going to be the owner of that time.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Let the Anthony Edwards to the Miami Heat Rumors Begin \ud83d\udc40 | The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gOm38wYE0u8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And if (Connelly) leaves, the next step on that is Anthony Edwards possibly wanting to leave&#8230;\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Timberwolves Franchise Star Anthony Edwards Could Request Trade<\/h2>\n<p>The Timberwolves\u2019 protracted ownership dispute is sure to have ramifications. Whether it results in Connelly and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edwaran01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Edwards<\/a> leaving as Le Batard suggests obviously remains to be seen. Nonetheless, the idea that both would leave the Timberwolves in order to distance themselves from Taylor isn\u2019t far-fetched.<\/p>\n<p>The 83-year-old business magnate truly is considered one of the worst owners in major sports, let alone the NBA. Since Taylor became the majority owner in 1994, Minnesota has went 1,042-1,342. Their 13-year playoff drought\u2014 from 2005 to 2017 \u2014is the third-longest in NBA history.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, coaches and players are the ones who are the faces of a win-loss record. Yet, it\u2019s the owner\u2019s job to hire lead executives. Those executives hire the coaches and acquire players, often with input from ownership. Therefore, the Timberwolves\u2019 ineptitude trickled down from the top; from Taylor\u2019s throne.<\/p>\n<p>If Connelly were to stay on even if Taylor retained ownership, the calculus would be different. The Maryland native has proven himself to be among the best decision-makers in all of sports. More to the point, as the architect of the Denver Nuggets\u2019 title-winning core and now the Timberwolves\u2019 perennial playoff contender, players like Edwards would have faith in him.<\/p>\n<p>If Connelly leaves, there\u2019s a chance that the Timberwolves could hire someone as good as him or better. Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst was floated as a potential candidate for the Detroit Pistons\u2019 presidency this offseason. Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr could be headed for an executive role as their dynasty comes to an end.<\/p>\n<p>However, rolling the dice on those hypotheticals likely may not be as appealing as requesting a trade. As arguably the next face of the NBA, all Edwards has to do is say the word and he\u2019ll have a couple dozen trade suitors.<\/p>\n<h3>A New Big Three In Miami?<\/h3>\n<p>Due to his youth and confidence, Edwards may not look to leave the Timberwolves. After all, he\u2019s the face of the franchise. Even if Taylor stays and Connelly leaves, he might want to put the team on his back and win a ring in Minnesota.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, the appeal of the Miami Heat is real. Over the past couple of seasons, several stars have tried to make their way to Miami. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lillada01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Damian Lillard<\/a> wanted the Portland Trail Blazers to trade him to the Heat. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/irvinky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyrie Irving<\/a> had the Heat on <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/03\/kyrie-irving-trade-that-almost-never-happened\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">a shortlist of trade destinations<\/a>. If Miami had the money, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/derozde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeMar DeRozan<\/a> might <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/11\/heat-holdup-demar-derozan-trade-revealed\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">be playing for them<\/a> rather than the Sacramento Kings.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the Heat have struck out on each of those stars, for one reason or another. If Edwards wants to play for Miami, Heat president Pat Riley might do everything short of moving heaven and earth to make it happen though. A Big Three of Edwards, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/adebaba01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bam Adebayo<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/butleji01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jimmy Butler<\/a> would be Miami\u2019s best since their Heatle days.<\/p>\n<p>Led by Edwards, Adebayo, and Butler, the Heat could very win their first championship since 2013. Riley could ride off into the South Beach sunset. And all because Taylor didn\u2019t want to let the Timberwolves go once he saw them becoming successful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Glen Taylor and Alex Rodriguez quarrel over ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the domino effect could have larger ramifications than previously imagined. \u201cIf (Taylor) keeps the team,\u201d Dan Le Batard reports on his eponymous podcast, \u201cwhat\u2019s going to happen after that is they\u2019re going to lose their team president, Tim Connelly.\u201d \u201c(Connelly\u2019s) going to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":89792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[21,1608,16,62,3,4721],"tags":[27967,2109,49433,4774],"class_list":["post-89768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-timberwolves","category-basketball","category-heat","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-alex-rodriguez","tag-anthony-edwards","tag-glen-taylor","tag-rumors"],"modified_by":"Kayla Fonte","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89768","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\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}