For as clowned as Gobert is, it’s incredibly difficult to find a great defensive C on the market that shows up consistently.

they arent just a bad defence without him they are like worst in the nba tier

Yeah, it’s a fair enough trade, but Wolves fall apart completely without Gobert anchoring the defense.

Plus I think Rudy will have his best offensive year yet with Melo. That’s a perfect lob threat for Melo and this is the best passing PG that Rudy has ever had

Ya Gobert looked real competitive when he put up a combined 4 points and 8 rebounds those final 2 playoff games.

Edit: same cycle every year lol. Gobert is excellent in the regular season and raises a teams defensive floor to the top tier. Follows it up with an up and down playoff run that includes multiple games of being completely invisible on the offensive end and defense that has gravity but no real counting stats. Fans that actually watch see it and groan at his lack of production. Then the team gets eliminated and we all have to get downvoted to hell by Gobert truthers who claim he’s indispensable.

People who don’t know ball. We are miles better this year with Gobert and LaMelo than we would have been with JB alone.

The narratives really got people’s heads twisted up. No other obvious future HoF player would be talked about like he’s somehow holding a team back. People still believe that he gets “played off the court” despite that literally never happening. It’s crazy.

Why do people say this? Pro Gobert posts like yours always get massive upvotes and the small group of haters is always massively downvoted. But this is what happens with most players

Same thing is already happening with Chet, even though he’s a better offensive player than Rudy with slightly worse defense.

People refuse to give defensive centers that get paid enough credit.

Agreed but imagine telling a celtics fan in april that Jaylen’s trade value is one 1st, some swaps, naz, and rudy.

But a better fit though. I also would not want to give up that package for a guy whose skillset is so similar to my best player’s

Yeah. Brown also makes 50% more than Ball, so fitting him under the cap would have been harder.

And a guy who fits a more pressing need. LaMelo is a lot more risky, but he addresses a major positional need, is cheaper, younger, and cost less to get.

They gave up less for a better player, on a better contract who is also a much better fit. Wish they had done the JB deal, am terrified Denver remembers to do something similar (hopefully they don’t have the assets) 

Honestly, why not? Unless you really want to move Jaylen Brown might as well shoot for the stars. I assume they are ok with him staying around.

Top 10 player in his prime with no major injuries, 4 FRPs doesn’t come close to cutting it

Giannis went for effectively 7+ as a top 5 guy with an injury history and is older/more reliant on athleticism

Why have we all memory holed him winning a Finals MVP like 2 years ago?

This is what the asking price for an all-NBA first team player should be

I mean the pick package for Lamelo is basically 1 FRP and largely worthless swaps (maybe less so for Boston than Charlotte but still not hugely valuable). Gobert and Reid are nice pieces but not worth a whole lot at the salaries. Overall it’s cheaper than Bane or Bridges packages for a drastically better player. Brown is fringe top 10. It would be a bargain if that is all it took, 2 mid assets 1 FRPs some worthless swaps and SRPs. But Wolves made the right call as Gobert is very valuable for them and Lamelo is a better fit to what they have.

Yeah this is why JB won’t be traded

Definitely not operating like he has to be traded this offseason despite the rumors

2x Second team all nba and finals mvp. 6th in mvp voting. That’s not an unreasonable ask. Naz is an overrated backup, albeit a fan favorite personality….bit still a backup for a reason

Ant doesn’t turn over the ball any more than the average superstar 

Lol being “almost 30” used to be considered a good thing. Like, thats when players are in their prime?

Almost 30 is good. He probably has 3 or 4 more years of top level play. Even on his downside he’ll be a good player

Boston with Gobert AND Naz Reid along with their current roster save for Brown is the best team in the East.

No its not lol we need bigs this would’ve been perfect

Are you saying that’s not a good package?

That would be literal trade rayp lmao. Gobert, firsts, swaps, and an elite depth guy for a guy whose only skill is low BBIQ iso scoring?

They want a haul for a player that they no longer want on the team

Thank God he’s not a dumb ass like you lol

I don’t think this is a good way to frame it.  The Bucks wouldn’t be looking for the same assets as Boston.  In Milwaukee’s case future picks would’ve been the target while the Celtics are in “win-now” mode and want players in their prime. 

Then you’re delusional

I think it’s reasonable for Boston, and one thing that I don’t expect Boston to do is rush into a deal unless it’s a steal for them.

That said it really depends on the relationship with Jaylen whether they’re fine going into the season with him on the team vs having to trade him. If it’s the latter they might have to settle for less than they’d want.

I wouldn’t either lol

Yeah let’s not quote Brian Windhorst’s opinions and pretend they’re gospel

Thinking that JB is worth less than or equal to what lamelo is worth in a trade is fucking insane.

He’s an all NBA caliber player and finals MVP who finished with regular season MVP votes this year.

Wolves wouldn’t have done it lol

eh they needed a guy that can do what LaMelo does and they can’t afford to lose Gobert

Gobert for brown straight up makes the wolves worse without even getting into the rest of the package 

They’d have no frontcourt lol

they would get demolished out west, when you have to deal with wemby and jokic.

Why would a team trade their multi-DPOY center AND their PF for a wing player

It doesn’t. Gobert + LaMelo is way better than just having JB

I don’t think so. McDaniel’s would lose a ton of minutes and they lose their defensive anchor

Wolves are trying to win now so Ant doesn’t leave. Explain how this trade makes the Wolves better now than the Hornets trade does?

They’d have no bigs at that point idk that would be rough roster construction

Hell no the same way Lamelo can make your offense a top 5 offense Rudy does in Defense which makes up for Lamelo flaws and gives Rudy the best lob thrower of his career

No it absolutely does not

Not really. Brown and Ant play the same position in the same way. It doesn’t solve any of our issues on offense other than the need for a 2nd scoring option while it massively would have ruined our starting 5 and defense.

Lineup of

Ant/Brown
Ant/Brown
Ayo
Jaden
Joan

is not that good tbh and you’d be so cap strapped you can’t do much to fix issues.

Lamelo is going to make everyone remember that Gobert is an elite lob threat.

He’s a 2nd scoring option that is going to heavily punish teams that try to double Ant.

Ant shot 49.6% from 3 on catch and shoot opportunities in 2026 and has been at or over 41.3% off catch and shoot opportunities for the last 5 seasons.

On top of helping to elevate Ants game even further offensively, with Ant not needing to carry almost the entire offensive load he won’t need to expend as much energy on every offensive possession meaning he can start playing elite perimeter defense like he’d shown earlier in his career.

The Hornets shot like 20% TS better with Lamelo on the court vs off the court.

Jaden being a better shooter turns him into a legit 3rd option.

Gobert being a lob threat will go a LONG ways against teams like OKC and SAS who have defenses that have forced the wolves to sit Gobert for long stretches of big games because he’s a detriment to the offense when no one can feed him/set him up.

I think we’ll make a move for a PF yet and trade Green to do it in some fashion so start and assuming we do we could have this as our starting 5
Ball
Ant
Jaden
PF
Rudy
Bench: Ayo, Joan, TJ, Clark + maybe Bones + rookies and anyone else we add/sign/steps up

If we don’t add a PF
Ball
Ant
Ayo
Jaden
Rudy
Bench: Green, Joan, TJ, Clark + maybe Bones + rookies and anyone else we add/sign/steps up

Those rosters are WAY more capable of playing against SAS/OKC than the previous 3 years of Timberwolves teams. Rudy, Joan, another PF to throw at Jokic against Denver to keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing successfully against them before but with way more offense.

Timberwolves got way better on offense, and didn’t lose anything on defense to do it and may get better with Ant being able to expend more energy on Defense and that does not include Lamelo POTENTIALLY getting better by using his 6’7” frame finally to be solid defensively.

Brown makes $15M more than Lamelo, is older, and isnt a primary ball handler. It doesnt really solve some of our biggest issues

Losing Reid and Gobert? Who would play in the frontcourt?? I seem to remember the Wolves running into a lot of skilled bigs these playoffs…..

Losing their goat defensive center and their PF for someone who overlaps with Ant? Brother