Minnesota Timberwolves Receive: C Myles Turner
Indiana Pacers Receive: G Malik Beasley, F Jake Layman, MIN 2023 1st Round Pick (Top-8 Protected)
Seeing as both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Indiana Pacers are right underneath the tax line for the season, they do not have much room to make a significant trade, but the combination of Malik Beasley’s and Jake Layman’s contracts would keep both teams under this threshold.
Malik Beasley came to the Timberwolves during the 2019-20 season and since joining the team, he has been a spark offensively on the perimeter. In 66 games with the Timberwolves, Beasley has averaged 17.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and has shot 38.8% from three-point range.
The Pacers need scoring, especially on their bench, and adding a sharpshooting wing like Malik Beasley could definitely open up the floor a little more for crafty playmakers like Brogdon and LeVert. As for Jake Layman, his role would likely be minimal with the Pacers, but he is another guy who has been known to be a somewhat reliable three-point threat.
Now in his 6th season, third with the Timberwolves, Layman has averaged 5.2 points, 1.8 rebounds for his career and has only shot 30.7% from three-point range.
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Nothing about his numbers are impressive, but he has never really been given an opportunity to contribute other than during the 2018-19 season in Portland, where Layman averaged 7.6 points and shot 32.6% from three-point range.
The Indiana Pacers have numerous trade exceptions that they could use to absorb Layman’s salary with no financial hardships looming over them and while they could not do the same with Beasley’s contract, his would fill the left over cap space from trading Myles Turner, still keeping the Pacers just about $600K under the tax line.
In Minnesota, they have a much more talented looking team than they did a season ago, but making the playoffs is still a big ask for this group. They are currently 6-9 and have been underwhelming after their fast start to the season, which is why they need to make some kind of a statement move via trade to strengthen their roster.
On a recent episode of The Scoop With Doogie, Darren Wolfson mentioned the Minnesota Timberwolves being a possible team to watch in trade talks surrounding both Myles Turner and Chris Boucher.
Here at NBA Analysis Network, we discussed a Timberwolves-Raptors trade involving Chris Boucher last week, but Myles Turner would certainly be an intriguing option for the Timberwolves to consider.
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While they do have Karl-Anthony Towns, the All-Star center could be willing to slide over to the power-forward position to make this fit work. After all, Towns can basically play and shoot from anywhere on the floor, so he does not necessarily need to be the “center” in every rotation to be successful.
Making a big move is going to be essential for Minnesota this season and going after Turner would certainly be a key move to make. However, this trade could wind up causing some problems with Towns long-term since he has always been the only contributing big man for this team.
