The D'Angelo Russell trade may have vaulted the Timberwolves to the top of the NBA

The Wolves' rise coincides with the acquisition of Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

One year ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves were trying to stay afloat in the Western Conference. At 23-24, the Wolves were a maddening team, able to compete with the NBA's heavyweights but unable to put away bad teams.

They were blasted for trading a king's ransom including five draft picks to the Utah Jazz for Rudy Gobert and the locker room was crumbling to the point where Gobert would throw a punch at Kyle Anderson in the season finale. 

Everything looked like the Wolves would take a step back under President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly until things turned around this season.

The Wolves enter Saturday night's game with the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 31-11 record and would be the top seed in the Western Conference if the playoffs began today. They sit one game behind the Boston Celtics (32-10) for the best record in the NBA and a championship seems like a possibility for a franchise that has only won titles in an NBA 2K franchise mode.

It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment when the Timberwolves became a title contender, but one of the biggest moments was the decision to trade D'Angelo Russell at last year's trade deadline. 

The three-team deal that brought Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker to Minnesota has paid off in several ways for the Wolves this year and could lead them to a deep run in the Western Conference playoffs.

Russell had the star power as a former All-Star, but wasn't a fit as a distributor in Chris Finch's offense. In four seasons in Minnesota, Russell averaged 18.5 points and 6.5 assists per game, including 17.9 points and 6.2 assists per game in his final season with the Wolves. But Russell wasn't keen on the idea of ceding touches to Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards, which led him to claim that he was held back after he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

"I felt like I was held back there, honestly," Russell told The Athletic's Sam Amick last May. "I just kind of had to be the third option. Some nights, I was a little more aggressive and was kind of being held back. So to be in a position now where I can kind of thrive and be aggressive and it gets guys going and where the team reflects of anybody with that type of energy, it's fun."

Russell averaged 17.4 points and 6.1 assists in 17 games for the Lakers on their way to the Western Conference Finals last year, but has tailed off in his second season in Los Angeles, averaging 15.8 points and 6.1 assists as the Lakers enter Saturday with a 21-22 record.

While the Lakers sit 10th in the Western Conference and battle for a spot in the play-in tournament, the Wolves have flourished with Conley. 

The Wolves went 13-12 in 25 games with Conley at the end of last season, but there were other factors including Gobert's acclimation to the offense and Karl-Anthony Towns' return from a calf injury that contributed to the improvement.

Mike Conley / Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports

Conley's scoring has gone down from 14.0 points per game to 11.1 points per game this year, but his assists have gone up from 5.0 per game last year to 6.5 per game this season and given the Timberwolves a veteran presence they lacked a year ago.

"He's just been tremendous leading us, talking to us on the bench," Timberwolves forward Naz Reid told The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski. "When times get tough, he's able to sit in the chair and tell us how we're supposed to be playing and what's right and what's wrong."

While Conley is the centerpiece of the Russell trade, he isn't the only component that has benefitted Minnesota, as Alexander-Walker has found a role as on the Timberwolves bench.

A former first-round pick, Walker bounced around from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Jazz to the Timberwolves before settling in with 5.9 points per game last season. The 25-year-old has improved this season with 6.5 points and 2.4 assists per game this season while shooting 42 percent from the floor including a career-high 54.5 percent on 2-point attempts.

The trade could continue to benefit the Wolves in the future as well thanks to three second-round picks they received in the deal. Minnesota owns the lesser of Washington and Memphis's second-round pick in 2024 and picked up Utah's second-round pick in 2025 and 2026 as part of the trade.

The Wolves already put Utah's 2026 second-rounder to use as it was paired with their 2028 second-round pick to select forward Leonard Miller in last June's NBA Draft. Miller is averaging 19.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and two assists in five games with the Iowa Wolves this season and the 20-year-old could develop into a rotation player for Minnesota.

Put it together and the trade has served as a redemption tour for Connelly, whose deal to bring Gobert to Minnesota was called one of the worst trades in NBA history at this time last year. 

Gobert has since become a candidate to win his fourth NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and the Timberwolves have become one of the best teams in the league because of it. But the decision to bring Conley to Minnesota may be the trade that put the Wolves over the top and has them thinking about winning a championship.

"I tell him all the time, hey I'm glad you came here," Edwards told Krawczynski after Thursday's win over the Memphis Grizzlies. "We'll win us a championship before you get out of here. It's a good thing he came here."