The Timberwolves are in the second apron of the luxury tax, which severely limits their roster-building options. Timberwolves president Tim Connelly is looking for ways to upgrade his roster in the face of that, such as trading away a 2031 pick (and a 2030 pick swap) to get No.8 pick Rob Dillingham from the San Antonio Spurs yesterday.
This is a lesser deal but a way to free up a roster spot without costing the team money — Minnesota is trading Wendell Moore Jr. and the No. 37 pick in this draft from Timberwolves for the No. 53 pick, a story broken by Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Minnesota is trading Wendell Moore Jr. and the No. 37 pick in today's Day 2 of NBA draft to Detroit, sources say.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 27, 2024
For the Pistons, this is more about the No. 37 pick than the player. Moore, a 22-year-old 6'5" shooting guard out of Duke, has played 54 games across two seasons for the Timberwolves. The challenge for the former first-round pick of the Mavericks is that he’s a shooting guard who can’t shoot—he has taken 23 3-pointers in his 54 NBA games and made two of them (8.7%). That’s a tough sell in today’s NBA.
The Pistons give up about $1.4 million in cap space to make this trade, but they still have $63 million available, Spotac’s Keith Smith notes.