MN Timberwolves Pretty Much Out on Giannis
What does Tim Connelly have cooking up for the Minnesota Timberwolves between now and the start of the 2026-27 season?
All has been rather quiet, not just around the Wolves, but across the entire league, as it waits for the NBA Finals between the Spurs and Knicks to come to a close.
In the meantime, there have been some whispers linking Minnesota to a few different stars who are, or are expected to become available in the upcoming days and weeks — including Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Timberwolves out of the running for Giannis Antetokoumpo
According to NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer (Stein Line Substack), Giannis is expected to be dealt by the Bucks either before or during the draft. However, he isn’t going to the Minnesota Timberwolves… or any team in the West, for that matter.
Giannis, according to reports, wants to stay in the East (likely the Celtics or Heat), which is why Connelly hasn’t really engaged the Bucks in trade talks, to this point.
The rest of the market [outside of Boston and Miami] remains tepid for Antetokounmpo. The Bucks and Knicks talked last summer, but New York is playing in the NBA Finals as this all goes down and is not about to blow up this roster. The Cavaliers don’t want to trade former Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley, and that was their only viable path to a deal. Teams in the West that might be a fit (like Minnesota) have not come hard because Antetokounmpo wants to stay in the East.
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The NBA Draft is scheduled for June 23, and the Wolves are currently slated to pick No. 23 in the first round and No. 59 in the second. Will those picks still be theirs when they go on the clock in less than two weeks?
At this point, you have to think Kyrie Irving is the most likely candidate to land here, though there hasn’t been much steam behind those rumors lately, either.
Wolfson confirms unliklihood Giannis lands in Minnesota
On SKOR North’s Flagrant Howls podcast Thursday, Darren Wolfson (KSTP Sports) also talked about how slow things have been around the league lately. However, he’s hearing the same kind of things regarding Giannis, and the Wolves’ unlikelihood Minnesota lands him.
“Yeah, I mean I haven’t heard any new buzz. We’ve been seeing on flagrant house for a few weeks. We thought Giannis would end up elsewhere. So to me, it’s continuing to trend in that direction. And do I think Connelly, Matt Lloyd, Dell Dempson company had legit interest in Giannis back in February? Sure, absolutely. I don’t think there was any false reporting going on then, but yeah, there just there isn’t any steam right now.
Now, is that a lot to do with Giannis preferring to be in the East compared to the West? Now, my understanding back in February was Giannis was open-minded to teaming up with Anthony Edwards, but is there more interest in being in Miami or Boston or just flat out the Eastern Conference? I guess I can’t dismiss that idea. Plus, we’ve discussed at length, Phil, just how complex, how difficult it would be to pull off an actual Giannis deal.
Darren Wolfson – SKOR North (Flagrant Howls)
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