Minnesota Timberwolves
After a great, breakout season last year, John Collins has continued to prove he is one of the better, younger players in the entire league, especially given all the talent on this Hawks roster this year. His production and numbers have slightly declined this year due to there being more scoring options on the Hawks, but overall, Collins is a great power-forward.
While Atlanta would rather keep John Collins than lose him, the Timberwolves were a team that aggressively pushed for a John Collins trade at the trade deadline this season and will likely continue their pursuit of him in free agency.
Ultimately, if the Timberwolves were to acquire Collins, it would likely have to be via a sign-and-trade with the Hawks. For reference, the Timberwolves are set to be $19.2M over the salary cap entering next season with the current contracts on their roster.
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Overall though, with the Timberwolves being a young and athletic team, John Collins not only fits this mold, but he brings a new dynamic to this team. Towns would not have all the attention solely on him due to Collins, Russell, Edwards and Beasley all being scoring threats and they would finally have two legit low-post threats they can rely on.
After declining a $90M contract extension this past offseason, Collins’ future in Atlanta is very much up-in-the-air and if they cannot reach an agreement on a new contract in the offseason, then he may look to sign an offer sheet with a team like the Timberwolves.
If the Timberwolves truly wants to go after the best young talent available, then finding ways to sign John Collins in the offseason is a “no-brainer” move for them. The only question is what would they need to give up to acquire him?
