Rudy Gobert Trade Grades: Who won the trade between the Jazz and the Timberwolves?

Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY

GRADE: B-

I’m not going to lie — the Timberwolves’ angle to this thing is a bit perplexing.

The Wolves have certainly improved their starting rotation by getting a perineal Defensive Player of the Year candidate and lining him up next to Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns also gets to play the perimeter a lot more and doesn’t have to be the lynchpin of the Wolves’ defense — something he’s incapable of doing.

There are also other moves they can make here to continue to bolster their roster — moving D’Angelo Russell is the obvious one that hasn’t come to pass yet.

But, at the same time, they’ve basically sacrificed all of the depth that got them into the postseason last year. They gave away important defenders in Beverley and Vanderbilt, who are both legitimate All-Defensive team caliber players. Malik Beasley isn’t the defender they are, but he’s a scoring wing. That has value in the NBA and those players are hard to come by.

There’s also the fact that they just gave up their entire future — picks that could’ve made a difference for a team with a lack of depth — to get one player. Gobert is an awesome player, but is he worth that? I’m unsure.

Ultimately, the Wolves will be in contention for homecourt in the playoffs next season. They’re probably a darkhorse threat to make it all the way to the Finals should things go well. But there are so many “ifs” in that scenario.

The precarious Gobert-Towns fit has to work well. Anthony Edwards has to step up and become a star. D’Angelo Russell — if he’s still there — has to mesh well here. They’ll need to rework a bench rotation now, too.

There are more questions about the Wolves than answers when it comes to this trade. There’s still time to find answers, obviously, but they’ve got to do it before the market dries up.

We’ll see if they can.