How Does the Kevin Durant Trade Impact the Timberwolves and the West? | What’s the Draft Strategy?

How Does the Kevin Durant Trade Impact the Timberwolves and the West? | What’s the Draft Strategy?

hello and welcome in to another episode of Lockdown to Wolves today on the show we have an NBA champion plus Kevin Durant was traded it was a huge Sunday in the league we’ll also talk about will the Wolves trade 17 or 31 on Wednesday night and Thursday night’s NBA draft which pick are they more likely to keep talk about another option for them uh a guy who’s often mocked somewhere between those two picks so a pack show today lots to get into welcome in you are locked at Wolves [Music] you are Locked on Timberwolves your daily Minnesota Timberwolves podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day hello and welcome to the Locked On Wolves podcast part of the Lockdown Podcast Network your team every day my name is Ben Beacon i’m the host of Lockdown Wolves today’s episode is brought to us by Monarch Money take control of your finances with Monarch Money use the code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year happy Monday everybody hope you had a fantastic weekend we’ll talk about the events of the NBA here in the first segment went down on Sunday yes we’ll talk briefly give some kudos to the OKC Thunder but uh mostly want to talk Kevin Durant trade and and what impact you know the the the return that Phoenix got for him from the Rockets how that impacts Minnesota uh in the context of what they were rumored to have offered and then also the Western Conference the NBA overall the landscape of the league and the conference specifically and then we’ll talk some draft stuff lots to get to on the draft side of course first round is Wednesday night second round Thursday night and that is what we’re going to spend the entire week talking about here after this first segment uh putting a bow in the Durant trade saga a big thank you off the top for making Lockdown Wolves your first listen every single day of course this show is free and it’s available everywhere that includes YouTube as well as all of your favorite audio platforms wherever you like to listen to podcasts you can find Lockdown Wolves you can also watch on the Lockdown Sports Minnesota app on both Roku and Amazon Fire TV all right so Kevin Durant was traded on Sunday and I had been saying on the show for a while I didn’t think Minnesota would end up with him even a couple weeks ago when it seemed like they could be the front runners then of course all the news about uh Durant apparently not wanting to having a desire to sign an extension in Minnesota and apparently reporting is that at the deadline Minnesota thought that Durant was interested and it sounds like this was a game of telephone uh through the Suns and it sounds like Phoenix’s front office couldn’t have been uh any less trustworthy which you know um maybe not the most surprising thing that happened in this whole saga And of course Durant may and and also maybe Durant didn’t fully know what he wanted which also wasn’t surprising because that’s that’s kind of the emmo of both parties here so Durant ends up going to Houston it became pretty clear that it was important to him to uh in some order play somewhere ideally that was warm and ideally didn’t have state income tax right we talked about Houston we talked about uh Miami and we talked about um the other team from Texas that I’m somehow now blinking out three teams that all don’t have that all don’t have income tax in the in the states that they’re in and that was clearly something that was a motivating factor for him at one point Dallas of course was involved but um or Dallas was was a rumored seemed to have rumored interest but what Houston ended up giving up for Kevin Durant I I actually really like the trade for Houston like for the beginning of the offseason I was a bit dubious about the Rockets you know doing the whole the the cashing in your chips that everybody’s talking about for a team that was the number two seed this year and very easily could have ended up in the conference finals i mean if they beat Golden State does that Houston team beat Minnesota in a sevengame series they very well could have and we’d be talking a lot differently about Houston coming into the offseason uh versus what ended up happening to them against Golden State at run one but for them to acquire Kevin Durant and I know he’s 37 but he’s still one of the best scorers in the league and and a top 25 player um for them to acquire him for I you know Jaylen Green Dylan Brooks the number 10 pick in this year’s draft which is maybe arguably the best asset of of the group and um you know several second rounders which obviously matters you know Wolves have have done pretty well acquiring second rounders in the Tim Connelly era as well uh it’s just kind of like nobody talks about him but then it’s like oh it’s nice that we have these second rounders that we’re taking Jaylen Clark with right um but Houston I think did pretty well for this like if you’re going to trade for 37y old Kevin Durant and and ultimately I’m sure hand him an extension then then I would have expected them to have to trade somebody else on this roster not that like Aan Thompson Amed Thompson was ever really on the table in a deal like this not that um you know that not that they were going to trade they were going to trade Alprrench Shen Goon right like that wasn’t going to happen but that was also kind of I was worried that that could happen if you’re a Houston fan that that could have something crazy like that you could have been like “All right we have to get Kevin Durant no matter what to add to this roster you know we’re not going to trade both of those guys obviously but one of them could be on the table.” Like it it if I were a Rockets span I would have a huge sigh of relief over the fact that all you’re giving up is Jaylen Green who who’s overpaid on the contract he’s on that massive three-year deal that didn’t make any sense i always thought he was overrated as a prospect and has been as a pro dylan Brooks who’s a nice player um but he’s kind of a fringy starter a really good defender but the offense just isn’t what it needs to be and there’s you know obvious Dylan Brooks is an important culture piece he’s he’s a classic you know first team Pat Beverly of like you love him if he’s on your team you hate him if he’s not sort of a thing there’s also other issues going on with Dylan Brooks but like from a culture standpoint from a a playing hard play defense really hard all the time and being a an actual like um not functional like a top really a top flight defender he has value as well like those those are both valuable pieces i would actually rank the assets the number 10 pick Dylan Brooks and then Jaylen Green because the Jaylen Green contract if you’re Phoenix you obviously you’re trying to restock the cupboard and who knows what happens with with Bradley Beal and and ultimately Devin Booker although I think Booker stays for now whereas Beal could who knows like he he probably isn’t on the roster come fall but Jaylen Green gets a bit of a fresh start there’s obviously still offensive talent there athleticism etc and then the pick you know it’s a pretty pretty good draft um And you see what happens at number 10 and then Dylan Brooks raises your floor defensively like what Minnesota was rumored to have been offering or at least been discussing with Phoenix would have involved Rudy Gobear and Rudy Gobear is the ultimate floor raiser we’ve talked about this before he’s a walking top 10 defense and Phoenix would have been a top 10 defense had they acquired Rudy Gobear dylan Brooks doesn’t have that big of an impact as a one individual player as Rudiggo Bear would on a team’s defense but he will have an impact and he will change the culture which is clearly one of like nobody’s played perimeter defense on the Phoenix Suns over the last couple of years and you know you have a pair of veteran coaches and Frank Fogle and Mike Benhoer and those guys couldn’t get this roster to play defense now Dylan Brooks is going to play defense he’s going to come in and defend and Jaylen Green has some upside and I I get the swing if you’re Phoenix and I get getting the pick so it’s not a horrendous hall if you’re Phoenix hall is probably not the right word it’s not a horrendous return um it is not as good as what they could have gotten from Minnesota had Kevin Durant been willing to sign an extension with the Timberwolves and and I don’t know exactly what the Wolves offer looked like but it would have had to have included either an opted in Julius Randle or Rudy Gobear very likely it was Gobear possibly Dvenenzo or Mike Connley and you know future picks whatever second rounders I guess mostly or I guess it could have been it probably was this year’s number 17 pick and then future second rounders that if your Phoenix is a better return then but I I’m pretty confident and and the reporting was kind of around this that Minnesota was like we’re not doing this if he doesn’t agree to the extension and I I bet if he had agreed to an extension a trade could have gotten done with Minnesota without that assurance you’re not going to trade Rudy Go Bear or Julius Randle for that matter if you’re Minnesota so um the way that this went down I don’t hate it for either side given where given Phoenix was between a rock and a hard place and and a lot of that was their own doing but this trade was going to happen durant mostly gets what he wants houston didn’t give up too much and Phoenix got did okay like I actually think everybody wins in this scenario as much as they could given the given the situation it was kind of a moderate win for everybody i want to talk about what it does to the landscape of the Western Conference does it help Minnesota or hurt Minnesota um so we’ll do that here next and then we’ll move on and talk a little bit more specifically about the draft and then about Minnesota’s picks we will cover one draft prospect today as well we’ll do all that here next today’s episode of Locked Out Wolves is brought to us by our friends at Ollipop lollipop is a new kind of soda made for people who love the classic taste of soda but want something that supports their health with just two to five grams of sugar and nine grams of prebiotic fiber in every can Lollipop is reimagining soda in a way that is better for your gut traditional sodas are loaded with sugar like 39 grams in a regular Coke or 44 grams in an orange Fanta i have a vintage cola right here from Ollipop right here guess what just a fraction of the sugar no artificial sweeteners gut friendly ingredients like Olly Smart look at it right now it’s only 35 calories only 35 calories i’m talking about 39 grams of sugar in Coke only two grams of sugar in this vintage cola from Ollipop uh my favorite flavor is classic grape i had that on the show last week i drank it on the show last week it was fantastic um delicious to crack open an Lollipop and and really any of the flavors but again classic grape my favorite tastes just as good and actually better than any grape soda I’ve ever had um I’m not a massive soda person lollipop’s gotten me back into it but not back into all the other stuff just into Lollipop uh it’s absolutely delicious get a free can of Lollipop just buy any two cans in the store and they will reimburse you for one of them head to drink.com/lockdownba super easy to do drinkollipop.com/lockdownba to claim your free can and findop near you that’s drink lollipop.comlockdownba all right let’s talk about the impact of the Kevin Durant trade on the Western Conference i do I mean I think it’s pretty clear that it makes Houston better and in some ways accelerates their timeline they get to keep their superstars and Thompson and Shangon and uh superstars in aggressive words stars we’ll call it and and and it’s also going to open up some playing time for guys like like Tar Een of course had injury issues i like Tar East a lot uh Reed Shepard high first round pick last year like he’s gonna get an opportunity to play potentially now and and that’s not necessarily immediately good for the Rockets unless you know Taran maybe i think Taran is NBA ready to be like a legit contributor on a playoff team and again this is a team that has a coach that has a track record of success and a team that was legitimately the number two seed in the Western Conference last year so we know that if this made them better it it they are contenders for the Western Conference title right like sitting here right now you look at the best teams in the West it’s OKC obviously it’s Oh we didn’t even talk about this we didn’t talk about the OKC title i meant to talk about this up the top i didn’t mean to bury this in segment two congrats to the Thunder i don’t know what else to say about this like everybody expected them to win the title um from pretty early on this season it was either going to be them or Boston and and I picked them to beat the Pacers in six it took the Pacers seven to do it obviously terrible that Tarius Albertton uh appears to have torn his Achilles um it’s awful congrats to OKC they’re going to be a bear in the Western Conference here over the next several years right like OKC and then in some order it’s got to be Houston and Minnesota are next like in that next tier of teams i mean obviously the Wolves being to the last two conference finals Dallas being the other team and looking very dramatically different than they did last year you could talk about the Lakers with Luca but they’ve got a lot of stuff to figure out um everybody’s got stuff to figure out and and as competitive as the Western Conference is Houston is right there in the same tier as Minnesota at I think you have to consider that to be the case um and this trade I don’t think necessarily is good or bad for Minnesota it’s good in the sense they didn’t give up a ton of assets for a Durant rental i mean I’ve I’ve been felt strongly about that the entire time um but I I don’t necessarily think that Durant going to Houston while it makes the Rockets better I don’t think it hurts Minnesota’s chances to come out of the Western Conference next year um it may hurt OKC more than and you know that’s a a weird phrase to say considering they they’re fresh off of a title at less than 24 hours ago and uh you know does a does does the Rockets acquired Durant hurt OKC really not no but it probably impacts OKC more than it impacts Minnesota minnesota and I don’t mean that in a recency biased way of the Wolves crushed Durant over the last you know this regular season and and and swept him in the playoffs year before because it’s it’s more than just that but I think Minnesota is better equipped to handle a player like Durant defensively and uh than OKC and Minnesota struggled with the way the Rockets played last year and they’re not going to play the same way with no Dylan Brooks and even though Jaylen Green not that Jaylen Green is a defensive stopper but Dylan Brooks is and they’re both athletic they both play you know they both wreak havoc on both ends of the floor and that identity is going to shift a little with Houston now obviously Emodoka is going to get this team playing hard and and Durant I think will play hard as hard as he can given his age and some of those limitations but um I I don’t think I like Minnesota struggled more with last year’s version of the Rockets and I think they will struggle with this new version of the Rockets with Kevin Durant as much as it makes the Rockets an overall better team it probably helps them more in the playoffs than it does in the regular season and it helps them more in other matchups potentially the Thunder matchup than it does against Minnesota um of course Phoenix is worse we knew that they already were kind of a non-factor this year anyway um but I don’t know like if he had ended up in Minnesota there would have been a lot of additional questions like what happens next you know given whatever the Wolves would have ultimately given up for Kevin Durant um but I think everybody kind of wins here and I think it’s neutral for Minnesota maybe even a win for Minnesota if you consider the the potential opportunity cost to acquire KD if the Wolves had done that um I think it lifts Houston as much as it as it could you know as as much as they could have hoped given what they gave up and I think it’s neutral to good for Minnesota i I it’s very odd it’s it’s kind of a win all the way around which is like I didn’t necessarily feel that way about like I I usually don’t feel that way sometimes it’s the opposite like in the moment last year I kind of felt like maybe for the Knicks and Wolves in the in the Randle Cat trade that both teams might have gotten a little bit worse and as it turns out they both got a little bit better well the Wolves didn’t actually get better but they got back to the conference finals even though they won seven less games the regular season and obviously the Knicks got better so it it’s it’s funny like you see these things in real time and and it’s what’s we don’t we don’t know but I I kind of like it for everybody given the fact this trade was going to have to happen at some point anyway um which brings me to the next thing I want to talk about which is the the NBA draft the picks Minnesota has we’ve talked about it quite a bit over the last few weeks they’ve got number 17 and number 31 this year’s draft there’s obviously a difference between 17 and 31 and in fact that difference is like 14 picks of course um but the like between 10 which is what Phoenix just acquired from Houston and 17 there’s maybe not a massive gap there’s a lot of guys that are getting mocked in like at like 11 and 12 that are also getting mocked in the low 20s so there’s there’s a lot of beauty in the eye of the beholder stuff going on there is in every draft but this draft feels like there’s a ton of guys in the basically 10 to 35 range that you look at at five mocks and they have them going in in in very distinctly different places um and one of the guys I’m going to talk about today is a good example of that or or the guy I’m going to talk about next segment is a good example of that but I’ve said all along I’d be shocked if Minnesota selected and kept guys at both 17 and 31 i’ve also said all along I thought Minnesota would probably well I’ve said all along they’ll trade one of the two picks and that I thought 31 would have just as much value as 17 because of the whole it’s the NB it’s the NFL effect of uh between day one and day two inevitably somebody who many people thought was a lottery talent is going to slide out of the first round and that first pick of the second round everyone’s going to be tripping over themselves to trade and acquire that pick they’ll talk themselves into a guy that slid and they want the pick from Minnesota who picks first on day two now I think Minnesota will ultimately I still think they draft somebody at 17 um and there was actually an article by uh Chris Hine over at the Star Tribune about this the other day and he talked about how um how about how he thinks Minnesota Chris Hines said uh that he thinks Minnesota will try and the opposite of actually what I just said he thinks they’ll where they’re more likely to keep 31 and trade 17 because of the salary attached to it right the salary slot for the 17th pick is 4.2 million which could make it more difficult to keep Nas Nikquil Alexander Walker and Julius Randle and stay below the second apron that’s 100% true and it’s on the table that they’re able to trade 17 and keep 31 but I think the the trade value of 31 will be so high that it wouldn’t shock me if they took someone at 17 and then and then waited to see what happens with 31 overnight and maybe it’s they hang on to the guy at 17 and then they see how things play out and they either keep him and figure out the the salary thing along the way and perhaps it’s you say goodbye to Alexander Walker because somebody they really like is there at 17 and you trade 31 for a future first which is what I thought they’d do all along you could trade this year’s 31 pick i am very confident that pick could be traded for a future first round pick because it’s basically a first round pick this year anyway and Minnesota doesn’t have first round picks for the next several years after this year so it makes a lot of sense to trade it for you know a top 10 protected pick next year or something like that i think that’s what happens and perhaps they keep the guy at 17 perhaps they trade him and they end up with no rookies that they select this season they’ve already got a pretty young roster this side of Rudy Goar and Mike Connley it’s a pretty young roster so that’s also on the table here where they they could pick somebody at 17 overnight decide that they’re going to trade 31 and then either keep or trade whoever it was they drafted at 17 i think that’s 100% on the table there’s also trading back from 17 to try and reduce that salary um that’s actually and I’m going to make ultimate predictions here on Tuesday and Wednesday shows i’m going to do I’m going a full draft board not a full draft board my Wolves draft board of like 12 to 15 guys but sitting here right now I bet what happens is Minnesota trades back from 17 picks up a future second to try and reduce that right as you trade down in the draft the draft slot the hold essentially decreases so if you trade 17 you pick up a future second round pick and you get back into like the 23 25 range or whatever i don’t know who has those picks but into the 20s then you save money against the cap you you maybe are are saving some money you can spend under Alexander Walker and and staying below the second apron which is imperative and you pick up a future asset and you still have 31 that you could trade overnight prior to round two on Thursday and acquire a future first round pick that’s what they’re going to try and do how many assets can we squeeze out of this thing we’ll still stand underneath that second apron can we acquire a future first and can we get if there’s somebody we really like in this draft can we get that guy in the 20s versus at 17 and pay him less money that is undoubtedly what Tim Connelly wants to do i want to talk about a guy who actually probably I think will go in that 20s range might not be there at 31 you might not want to draft him at 17 because there’s some development to be done uh next up here we’re going to talk about uh Adu Theoro it’s all coming up here next today’s episode of Lockdown Wolves is brought to us by our friends at Monarch Money ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go between dining out online shopping and entertainment it is easy to lose track and that’s where Monarch Money comes in your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances monarch Money isn’t just a budgeting app it’s a complete financial command center you could track all your accounts investments and spending in one place so you stop just managing your money and start building wealth when I started using Monarch Money I realized how much I was spending on food delivery it is a bugaboo for me i do it uh basketball season summer I do it all the time late on Friday I get hungry whatever order stuff on food delivery but now I know exactly how much I’m spending because of Monarch money and I could budget smarter and save more the other like huge benefit for this is the all-in-one convenience that instead of juggling multiple apps you can use Monarch to check your finances track spending and even plan your long-term goals take control of your finances with Monarch Money use the code lockdown at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year that’s monarchmoney.com code lockdown MBA for half off your first year all right so what I’ve been doing over the last couple of weeks if you are a newish listener is previewing two to three guys a day that I think could be fits for Minnesota at number 17 or if they were to trade up slightly unlikely or trade back slightly in the first round i’m going to start to hit guys that are probably more late first early second because I still like I mentioned last segment there’s a real possibility the Wolves trade back and they end up with a pick between 17 and 31 there’s also the ever so slight chance that they maneuver up from 31 or keep 31 and pick there so it’s important to hit guys kind of in in in that whole range from like 15 to 35 we’ll call it so I’ve been kind of cherrypicking i started with guys that have been mocked to the Wolves more often than not across the internet so various mock drafts and then I’m going to add in some guys that are more likely early second round late first round guys so we’ve talked about Nick Clifford out of Colorado State we talked about Jace Richardson for Michigan State um both guys that likely are are plus or minus that 17 pick ace Newell same deal thomas Sorber those guys probably go a little bit earlier than 17 or have a real shot to maxim Reno who’s all over the place on Mox same with Liam McNeely out of Yukon we talked Drake Powell the other day somebody who I like a great deal and I think will be there at 17 out of North Carolina jaggor Demen out of BYU ben Sif um uh Noah Essen Gay last time last show on Friday and then also Danny Wolf on Friday today we’re going to talk about Adu Theoro he is a wing out of Arkansas and he’s 6’8 7 foot wingspan 21 years old played three years in college two years at Kentucky under John Kalpari and transferred to Arkansas following Calipari there um great size for a wing 68 7 foot wingspan outstanding athleticism he’s an extremely switchable defender and honestly like this is maybe the third time I think I’ve said this now in 12 guys is plugandplay as a defender um I said that about Drake Powell as a defender and I said that about uh well Nick Clifford would have been the other one so those three guys are all plugandplay as defenders and and I like I Ad Theoro I think could play right now as a um he’s got more girth to him if you will than Jaden McDaniels and he’s slightly shorter I think than Jaden was when he was drafted well Jaden was around 6’8 I guess when he was drafted but I think it’s he’s that type of an athlete and switchable defender on the perimeter that a team could draft him and be like “All right you can defend.” Now I think there’s Tumani Kamara similarities of course uh the outstanding young Blazers player who I believe was a second round pick there’s some similarity there with how he plays how he defends and and also the body type so I I really do think that how switchable Theo is going to be on the perimeter his offball defense would be huge for Minnesota the steel rate is fantastic um last season at Arkansas Adoro had a steal rate of 3.4% pick up that steel rate drop it in the NBA it would have been third in the entire NBA last season behind just Dyson Daniels and old friend Chris Dunn would have been ahead of Kase Wallace of the NBA champion OKC Thunder by the way Sho Alexander and Jaylen Williams were nine and 10 in the NBA steel rate would have been uh nearly actually a full percentage point ahead of theirs of course that’s not quite how it works but to give some context for just how impressive that steel rate is got a great nose for the basketball you’d like the block rate to be a little higher just given the length and athleticism last year it was 2.9% which is still really good for a wing um like SGA’s was 3% this year uh Draymond Greens was 3.4% like that’s not a bad block rate for a wing you’d like it to be a little higher given the size and athleticism and the fact that he clearly has a nose for the basketball everything about the defense is plugandplay with uh with the do and and I I I truly believe that i think the switchability on the perimeter is great you probably should work on navigating screens but the physicality is really impressive this the rebound rate is also really good um a 12% overall rebound rate a defensive rebound rate of just under 16% which is a really really nice number to have um for somebody who is a uh who’s a wing right like he’s he’s not he’s not a big that’s a nice rebound rate nose for the basketball nose for deflections defensively all those things are positive and then on offense this is of course where the where the butt comes in um first the good he’s a pretty good straight line driver i mean dude averaged 15 plus points per game last year at Arkansas he was 15.1 points per game shot almost 55% from the field and layups at the rim shots at the rim in the half court weren’t great he was around 50% you’d like to see that be higher but he gets the rim a fair amount he gets to the free throw line a lot 6 and a half attempts per game last year but under 69% at the line and from the three-point line he’s 25.6% last year for his college career he only averaged one attempt per game from deep and he was just 28.4% that combined with a free throw percentage of just 69% last year and 71% for his college career concerns me a little bit about how much development there is on his jumper the the mechanics aren’t great it’s a slow release like how much will how much better will he get from the perimeter but again the athleticism the decent first step and really long strides he can get through him fairly easily and I thought was effective as a straight line driver in college i think he he is functional as a small ball four offensively great feeling for timing and spacing as a cutter massive lob threat um and not that Minnesota plays small a ton but like I could see him playing the four next to Rudy in a smaller lineup and yeah well that’s actually tough having two non shooters out there i could see him playing next to Nas where they kind of could be interchangeable at the four and the five in a really small lineup and he’s your dunk threat he’s your only guy out there besides Rudy on the team that’s not a three-point shooting threat and there could be some projectability there too i think the length the athleticism the feel in the half court and in transition by the way uh the the ability to play in the dunker to be a role man to be a lob threat I think that’s all real and I I think Theoro can be passable on offense and contribute there because of the feel the size the athleticism and the defense is so good like he’s not a day one rotation guy and he doesn’t need to be because there’s there’s other like there’s some similarities between the way Theoro plays and the way Josh Min plays he’s not quite as big as Minot and I think there’s maybe a little more offensive polish there um polish isn’t probably the right word to use for Theo but I think the straight line drive stuff is not are not things Josh Minot showed he was great in transition and maybe had a little more shooting upside theo is better in the half court as just a straight line drive guy and maybe a more polished lob threat understanding timing spacing overall feel on offense so there are similarities there but that said May not three years into an NBA career and he’s going to be a step ahead a couple of steps ahead hopefully of Theo if you were to draft Theo but you could draft Theo and put him on your bench he’s a 12th guy he plays in the G-League and within a couple years he moves into that 10th man role ninth man role do you want to spend the 17th pick on him no I don’t think so but could you get him at 31 maybe and if you trade back from 17 and get him in the late 20s I I mean that’s and then trade your 31 pick for a future asset i think that’s a very reasonable way to approach this and uh I think it’s feasible for Tim Connelly to pull something like that off all right uh we’ll do a couple more players tomorrow and then we’ll spend Tuesday remember Wednesday is round one of the draft i want to do my big board for the so far 12 guys we’ve talked about and uh I’ll I’ll give some predictions and what I think will happen um before we we wrap up this preview series and we get to Wednesday night’s round one a big thank you for making Lockdown Wolves your first listen every day of course this show is free and available everywhere that includes YouTube as well as all of your favorite audio platforms wherever you like to listen to podcasts you can find Lockdown Wolves you can also watch on the Lockdown Sports Minnesota app on both Roku and Amazon Fire TV a reminder that for your second listen you can check out the 2025 lockdown NBA mockd draft it is a five episode series with the most comprehensive NBA draft analysis from NBA experts to college experts and NBA draft experts find the 2025 lockdown NBA mockdraft on NBA big board and lockdown NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts of course the Lockdown Wolves podcast is part of the Lockdown podcast network remember the Lockdown Network is your local experts on all the biggest stories once again I’m Ben Beacon this is the Locked Out Wolves podcast and we’ll catch you next time

How does the Kevin Durant trade impact the Minnesota Timberwolves and how does it change the Western Conference landscape? Also, are the Wolves more likely to trade or keep the No. 17 and No. 31 picks in this week’s NBA Draft? Ben Beecken (@bbeecken) breaks down both questions, as well as a preview of draft prospect Adou Thiero.

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FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)