Timberwolves willing to move Thaddeus Young, per report

Quietly, the Timberwolves are having a season even worse than tanking Philadelphia. Only the Knicks have a record worse than Minnesota’s lowly 6-31 as the Wolves begin their post-Kevin Love rebuild in earnest.

A casualty of the rebuild might be Thaddeus Young, who has been put on the trading block for teams that might be interested, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein. Young came to Minnesota in an August trade after spending his entire career in Philadelphia, but the seven-year veteran is a viable NBA player and out of place with the rebuilding Wolves.

Brooklyn is a team that “covets” him, according to Stein, but any number of teams should be interested in the athletic power forward who averages 13.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists on 43.5 percent shooting from the floor. Let’s break down this rumor and see if there’s any truth to it one way or another.

Any hope that Minnesota would be decent this season has totally dissipated, especially with Ricky Rubio missing much of the season. They’ve been a total lost cause in the win column, even though Andrew Wiggins’ development has still been a lot of fun.

Playoff teams need good players to bolster their rosters, especially with this season’s arms race, and Young is just that. His numbers are a little bit down from his career averages, but on a good team in the right role, those will surely bounce back. If Minnesota could get another young prospect or draft pick to add to their rebuild, who would say no?

Young is only 26 and if the Timberwolves believe they can re-sign him, he could potentially be part of the plan for the future. He has an early termination option for $9.7 million next year and may exercise it. In theory, Young could be a key piece for Minnesota when it’s finally ready to make a playoff push.

Still, that’s a bit of a long shot. Minnesota’s rebuild will last a few years and exchanging Young opens even more minutes for Anthony Bennett and Shabazz Muhammed behind him, who the Timberwolves are still working to develop. Young’s a good player, but he’s hardly irreplaceable. The Wolves can find a player like him down the road should they need to.

The one problem is that Young is in the final year of his contract unless he elects to opt in. Minnesota shouldn’t give Young up for nothing, but if teams are too nervous about his expiring deal to give up anything of value, the Timberwolves should just stay put.

Brooklyn’s interest is the rumor, but Sacramento might be a good fit, too. They’ve already been shopping Nik Stauskas, their No. 8 draft pick from last summer, and need a power forward.