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The Timberwolves had talks with the Celtics about Jaylen Brown, the Milwaukee Bucks about Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Chicago Bulls about Josh Giddey, according to team sources who granted anonymity so they could talk about sensitive negotiations. Brown was intriguing, but the Celtics were asking for a king’s ransom that included Gobert and heavy draft capital. There were also debates about how Edwards and Brown would fit together as two ISO-heavy scorers on offense. Connelly had given chase to Antetokounmpo before last season and at the trade deadline, but the Wolves never got close on a deal there either, sources said. Giddey was another big guard to potentially pair with Edwards, but there was little traction on talks there.
The Timberwolves explored multiple avenues to add another star next to Edwards in the days leading up to landing Ball. There were discussions with the Chicago Bulls about Josh Giddey. They had talks with the Boston Celtics about Jaylen Brown, a team source said, but the Celtics were looking for a package including Gobert, Reid and similar pick compensation that went to Charlotte for Ball, team sources said. That was just too much for the Wolves to pay for a soon-to-be 30-year-old forward who, while being a better overall player than Ball, wasn’t as clean a fit next to Edwards.
Joel Lorenzi: Caleb Wilson said he got to know Matas Buzelis some before the draft, and that Matas was at his draft workout. "He's always been someone that I believed is a great guy." Continued: "I know Josh Giddey is a great guard, really unselfish. I'm excited to play with him."
The list of veterans whom the Wolves have discussed this spring includes the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Dallas Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving, the New Orleans Pelicans’ Trey Murphy III, the Chicago Bulls’ Josh Giddey, the Boston Celtics’ Derrick White and many more. A couple of important caveats are that every team in the league is considering veteran help, and that having interest in a player does not mean any potential trades have ever been close.
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Darren Wolfson: Another player of interest to the Wolves, per multiple league contacts: Bulls guard Josh Giddey. Just not sure how you pry him out of Chicago, and I like his fit with new coach Tiago Splitter. #WolvesBack #Twolves
Josh Giddey on choosing basketball: "It wasn't an easy decision for me. I was really contemplating going with footy, but obviously it got to a point where I had to pick and I chose basketball and I haven't regretted the choice, but I've always wondered what if and what could have been with footy."
Josh Giddey: "When I was a kid at least, I always wanted to be an NBL player. I wanted to stay in Australia, play in the league here and I never really thought about the NBA. I always admired the NBA players, I have posters up in my childhood room where I grew up and I always wanted to just be a professional player and then as things progressed and I slowly became an NBA player and then everyone, once you get to the NBA, everyone wants to sign that second contract, you want to stay in the NBA and I was fortunate enough to do that."
Josh Giddey on his first professional contract with the Adelaide 36er: "I was getting paid 60 grand. And I thought I was a multi-millionaire. I was 17 years old when I signed that and it was unbelievable. I was so excited, I remember it and I remember getting my paychecks every two weeks and I thought I was on top of the world."
Josh Giddey on his first impressions of the Oklahoma City Thunder facility: "I was blown away. I'd never been anything close to something like that and everything's on the one building. You've got courts, you've got state of the art like weight room, recovery centers, like the the training tables, the kitchen, the offices, everything's just unbelievable and when I first went in there, I was shocked. I'd never seen anything like that before."
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Josh Giddey: "I think the the toughest part is the media. Like you see it everywhere and when you're not playing well, especially, you can't escape it. No, you can't escape it and players are are lying to you when they say that they don't see it and they don't, like everyone's, we all see it. We all talk about it on flights and in hotels and locker rooms, like we all read everything on Twitter that people are saying and Instagram and it's such a, it can be such a cruel world because you know, like everything's going great and it's, I'm not going to say cruel because some of it's warranted, like some players, they get paid a lot of money to perform and when you don't, that's what comes with it."
Chicago Bulls: Medical Update: Josh Giddey recently underwent a successful right ankle arthroscopy. Giddey is scheduled to start basketball activities in approximately three months and is expected to return for the start of training camp.
From The Logo with Jimmer Fredette: What was it like for Josh Giddey designing his own shoe with Puma? @jimmerfredette @joshgiddey @Spencer_Linton #nba #nbaplayoffs #sneakers #puma #australia
