Clippers at Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves are in the worst slump in the league at the moment and made some dramatic moves in front of the NBA trade deadline on Thursday they hope will spark the team the rest of this season and into the future. The Timberwolves hope to have newly acquired point guard D'Angelo Russell available when they host the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
Minnesota is enduring a 13-game losing streak and decided to send away a franchise cornerstone by shipping Andrew Wiggins to the Golden State Warriors in the deal that brought back Russell, a former All-Star. Bringing in Russell highlights an active two days for the Timberwolves front office, which also sent away Robert Covington in a four-team, 12-player deal on Wednesday and dealt their longest-tenured player, Gorgui Dieng, to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday, leaving president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas with just two players remaining from the roster he took over in May. The Clippers faced off with the rival Lakers and ultimately came away with a player both teams desired in veteran forward Marcus Morris, who arrives from the Knicks in a three-team deal. Morris joins a team that won its last three games and sits in second place in the Western Conference, 2 1/2 games behind the Lakers.
TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: FS Prime Ticket, FS North
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (36-15): Los Angeles slides Morris into an already-potent offensive attack that buried a franchise-record 24 3-pointers in a 128-111 win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday. "It's always been that it's just a matter of finding our rhythm," Clippers guard Landry Shamet told reporters. "That's what we're trying to step into now. Trying to figure out the best version of our balance, the best way for us to play. I think we were trying to search for it early in the year and I think we're still trying to search for it. Overall, we're starting to find it." Morris is a career 36.9 percent 3-point shooter who has improved that mark to 43.9 percent this season.
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (15-35): Wiggins, who was the No. 1 overall pick in 2014, was averaging 22.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists, but Minnesota believes Russell will form a better partnership with 2015 No. 1 overall pick center Karl-Anthony Towns. Russell (23.6 points, 6.2 assists in his first season in the Western Conference) was the No. 2 pick behind Towns in 2015 and has three years left on a max contract signed as part of the sign-and-trade deal that landed Kevin Durant in Brooklyn over the summer. Towns was so pleased with the deal for his friend that he met Russell's plane at the airport late on Thursday night and the team is hoping to have him in uniform on Saturday.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Minnesota also acquired SG Evan Turner, SG Malik Beasley, PF Jarred Vanderbilt, PF Juan Hernangomez, SG Jacob Evans and PF Omari Spellman in the flurry of activity.
2. The Clippers also acquired veteran PG Isaiah Thomas in a three-team deal, but he is expected to be waived.
3. Los Angeles won the last three in the series, including a 118-106 home victory last week.