With the Jazz in town, narratives over Rudy Gobert trade are changing
Rudy Gobert in 2023-24 is a superior version of Rudy Gobert from the 2022-23 season, and it's not particularly close. Whatever reasons there are to explain Gobert's return to being one of the league's top players, there's no denying that the narrative of the mega trade Minnesota pulled off to get Gobert has changed.
A year ago at this time the Timberwolves were being mocked and ridiculed for going big in a game largely dominated by guards and wings. Charles Barkley repeatedly chided Minnesota for being the "dumbest" team in the NBA and said playing two 7-footers together – Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns – would never work.
Others deemed the trade one of the worst in NBA history, laughing at team president Tim Connelly for shipping Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Leandro Bolmaro, Walker Kessler, Jarred Vanderbilt, four future first-round picks (2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029) and a 2026 pick swap just for Gobert.
Seventeen games into the season and the Wolves are the top team in the Western Conference and at 13-4 only the 14-4 Boston Celtics, whom the Timberwolves beat, have a better win percentage. So much for all that chatter about being dumb for trying to win with a couple of 7-footers.
In fairness, this is a "what have you done for me lately?" society and 17 games won't determine how the blockbuster trade will be viewed years from now. But after a year of mockery, all of a sudden the trade looks pretty darn good for the Timberwolves as they've morphed into a true contender.
Nov 26, 2023; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) dunks during the first half against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum.
Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
In fact, lately, the Clippers' trade for Paul George, which happened three years to the day before the Gobert trade, appears to be a far worse agreement. The Clippers gave the Oklahoma City Thunder Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, five first-round picks and two pick swaps for George.
Gilgeous-Alexander has blossomed into a top-10 player in the game and the 2022 first-round pick turned into phenom Chet Holmgren, while the 2023 first-rounder became Cason Wallace.
Gobert's dominance on the defensive end of the floor has made naysayers reconsider their thoughts on the trade. Gobert's presence has helped Minnesota start 13-4 despite playing the second-hardest schedule in the league, according to Dunks and Threes.
Gobert has blocked 6% of 2-point shots by opponents when he's on the floor, which ranks 15th in the league this season. Kessler is at 9.1%, which ranks second, per Dunks and Threes. But overall, Gobert estimated plus-minus is +0.6 compared to -2.6 for Kessler.
What have the Jazz done with the trade?
Beasley and Vanderbilt were included in the three-team trade that sent D'Angelo Russell to the Lakers, Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker to the Timberwolves and Russell Westbrook to the Jazz. A separate trade sent Beverley to the Lakers for Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson. Utah used the 16th pick in the 2023 draft (from Minnesota) to take Keyonte George, who is averaging 9.8 points and 4.9 assists in 25 minutes per game as a rookie. Bolmaro is playing in Spain.
You can analyze it until you're blue in the face, but the reality is that the Jazz got a draft picks and Kessler, so we won't know for sure how to grade the trade until Utah's 2025, 2027 and 2029 picks from Minnesota turn out. So far, it's Kessler and George vs. Gobert, and the Timberwolves are clearly the winners at this point based on their incredible start to the season.
It's now up to the Timberwolves to make sure Utah is picking late in the first round in 2025, 2027 and 2029, which will require Gobert and company continuing to pile up wins and make deep runs in the playoffs.
