Timberwolves depth and lineup possibilities after blockbuster trade
After acquiring Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker and saying goodbye to D'Angelo Russell in the blockbuster trade with the Lakers and Jazz, the Minnesota Timberwolves have 18 players on the roster.
That means more moves need to be made to get the active roster down to 15 players. What's most likely is Josh Minott and Wendell Moore being sent back to the G League and another player being waived to make the team roster compliant.
Who gets cut? That's to be determined and may not even be necessary if the Timberwolves make more trades before Thursday's 2 p.m. deadline. As it stands now, here's the roster:
Guards
- Mike Conley
- Jordan McLaughlin
- Anthony Edwards
- Jaylen Nowell
- Austin Rivers
- Bryn Forbes
- Wendell Moore
Forwards
- Karl-Anthony Towns
- Jaden McDaniels
- Kyle Anderson
- Taurean Prince
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker
- Josh Minott
- Matt Ryan
- Nathan Knight
Centers
- Rudy Gobert
- Naz Reid
- Luka Garza
Starting five Friday at Memphis?
- Mike Conley
- Anthony Edwards
- Kyle Anderson
- Jaden McDaniels
- Rudy Gobert
With Conley replacing Russell, he inserts himself into the most common group of starters the Timberwolves have had since Karl-Anthony Towns was injured in late November.
It's extremely difficult to predict who will come off the bench since many of the key reserves, including Prince, Reid and Nowell, have been involved in trade rumors.
Starting five when KAT returns?
- Mike Conley
- Anthony Edwards
- Jaden McDaniels
- Karl-Anthony Towns
- Rudy Gobert
Elite defensive lineup?
- Austin Rivers or Jordan McLaughlin
- Anthony Edwards
- Kyle Anderson or Taurean Prince
- Jaden McDaniels
- Rudy Gobert
Late-game lineup when points are needed?
- Mike Conley
- Anthony Edwards
- Jaden McDaniels
- Karl-Anthony Towns (Prince or Anderson if KAT is out)
- Naz Reid
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.