NBA Trade Grades: Timberwolves Go All In on Jazz's Rudy Gobert
The Jazz are up to something. Utah traded away All-Star big man Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves on Friday, according to multiple reports. In exchange, the Jazz will receive Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Walker Kessler, Jarred Vanderbilt, and four first-round picks. Utah will reportedly acquire unprotected firsts in 2023, ‘25, and ‘27, as well as a pick swap in ‘26 and a top-four protected pick in ‘29. Gobert, 30, is a three-time defensive player of the year winner. He averaged 15.6 points and 14.7 rebounds per game for the Jazz last season. He is signed on a max deal through 2025, with a player option for ‘26. Let’s grade the blockbuster for each team.
Jeffrey Swinger/USA TODAY Sports
Timberwolves: C
Oooohhh boy. It was a little bit like a horror movie seeing the details of this trade come across your phone screen. It started out innocently enough with Gobert, but the inclusion of the four firsts was scream-inducing. This is a massive haul for Gobert, who while talented, is also polarizing and making a large sum of money for an extended period of time. On court, the fit here makes a lot of sense. Gobert is an elite backstopper and rim protector, and he will go a long way in covering up the defensive flaws of Karl-Anthony Towns or Anthony Edwards, particularly during the regular season. He can keep Towns away from screens, and mitigate Edwards’s or D’Angelo Russell’s struggles staying in front of elite scorers. Gobert was also a key ingredient to a Utah offense that was consistently near the top of the league, and this Minnesota team has even more perimeter scoring talent than those teams did—thanks in large part to Towns’s shooting ability. Edwards running high pick-and-rolls with Gobert with Towns on the wing will be deadly.
It’s hard to say this is a bad trade for the Wolves. The players they gave up are steady vets, but the potential impact Gobert can have is massive. Still, in a loaded conference, to give up so many picks for someone who may not take you over the top is incredibly risky. Not to mention the questions about Gobert’s value in the playoffs to a group like this one are fair. Does Minny have the perimeter defenders to keep Gobert out of scrambles? Will the size of Towns and Gobert backfire against teams who shift small? Even as someone who is not typically in line with some people’s adoration for draft capital, this is a stunning deal.
Jazz: A
Though I’d made an argument for keeping them together, Gobert and Donovan Mitchell had clearly reached their limit as a star tandem. And after some playoff runs that called into question both players’ utility in high-leverage moments, change was inevitable in Utah. The Jazz acquiring such a draft haul for Gobert is a great place to start. This move gives Utah significantly more salary flexibility, a chance to build around Mitchell with picks and vets to move, or the ammunition to begin a more significant teardown. Considering Gobert’s max contract, his postseason foibles, chemistry questions and an overall devaluing of highly paid centers, his trade value was difficult to gauge. Well, the Jazz just received more unprotected picks for Gobert than the Bucks had to give up for Jrue Holiday. With most of its own picks in its coffers as well, Utah is in a good position to take a wrecking ball to its most recent iteration while rebuilding quickly over the next couple years. Moving on from Gobert, a homegrown All-Star selected late in the first round, was never going to be easy. But if the Jazz finally had to take their medicine after another disappointing playoff exit, getting four firsts plus a swap makes the move a much easier pill to swallow.
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