Kyle Kuzma is bound to be one of the Milwaukee Bucks mentioned the most in trade rumors over the next several months. The question at hand is whether there will be any suitors out there who want to take a swing on him. Well, the Minnesota Timberwolves quietly make a lot of sense, but their current financial situation puts them in a bind.
Timberwolves need a forward but are limited in trades
Minnesota has had a fascinating summer. While they re-signed key cog Ayo Dosunmu and traded for LaMelo Ball, they lost two essential forwards in the process: Naz Reid and Julius Randle. Minnesota is depleted of depth in the frontcourt. Early in the summer, it felt like they could acquire a fallback option one way or another, but that hasn't panned out.
At one point, Minnesota was linked to both LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, two players who would have made sense to fill their forward void. Well, James finally decided that he would take his talents to Philadelphia, while Hachimura signed with the LA Clippers long ago. The market has dried up, and one of the few options left that would make sense is trading for Kuzma.
Unfortunately for them, Minnesota is currently stuck because they cannot aggregate Josh Green's $14.7 million salary in trades. If they could, they could pair him with Donte DiVincenzo and send the two out in exchange for the battle-tested Kuzma. However, that option is off the table for now, and Minnesota has no legitimate path to acquire him without including a key piece elsewhere.
Kuzma will remain a trade candidate throughout the season
While Kuzma will likely open the season with the Milwaukee Bucks, he will almost certainly be dangled on the trade market throughout the year. As an expiring contract, teams will be more interested in him than they were last year, given that they won't have to commit to him beyond this season. That holds especially true if he plays well under Milwaukee, where he will be a likely starter.
Once the Timberwolves can pair Green's contract with someone like DiVincenzo, who is likely to miss a significant chunk of the season rehabbing from an Achilles tear, it wouldn't be shocking if Minnesota made a call to Milwaukee. Kuzma might not be a needle-mover, but he's an experienced forward who could beef up any title contender's forward room.
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