Trade deadline: Warriors swap Russell for Wiggins.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have taken on yet another new look, with D’Angelo Russell on his way to join pal Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins heading west to the Golden State Warriors.
In a swap of high scorers consummated just a few hours before the NBA deadline Thursday, the Timberwolves acquired the dynamic point guard they’d been seeking for a while in Russell and pulled the plug on their development of Wiggins, the mercurial first overall pick of the 2014 draft.
The deal also sent two little-used Golden State players, guard Jacob Evans and forward Omari Spellman, to the Timberwolves and routed two draft picks to the Warriors. They’ll get Minnesota’s first-rounder and second-rounder in 2021, unless the first-rounder is in the top three. Then it would roll over to 2022.
Here’s how busy the Timberwolves were at trade-deadline time: They announced the jersey numbers of eight new players Thursday night. In other deals:
❚ Center Dewayne Dedmon is returning to the Atlanta Hawks in a trade that sends center Alex Len and forward Jabari Parker to the Sacramento Kings. The Kings also are giving the Hawks two second-round picks.
Parker, who played for the Milwaukee Bucks from 2014-18, averaged 15 points and six rebounds with Atlanta but has been slowed by a right shoulder injury. Len has averaged 8.7 points and 5.8 rebounds.
❚ Philadelphia 76ers acquired Glenn Robinson and Alec Burks from the Golden State Warriors in exchange for draft picks.
❚ The Denver Nuggets picked up guard Jordan McRae in a trade with Washington.
In exchange, the Nuggets sent recently acquired guard Shabazz Napier to the Wizards.
McRae averaged 12.9 points and 2.8 assists in 29 games for the Wizards this season.
Napier didn’t play for the Nuggets after being picked up late Tuesday as part of a four-team trade involving Minnesota, Houston, Atlanta and Denver.
❚ The Cleveland Cavaliers acquired center Andre Drummond in a trade from the Detroit Pistons.
Cleveland is sending forward John Henson, guard Brandon Knight and one of its two second-round picks in 2023 to the Pistons. Henson has been injured during much of his stay with Cleveland. He joined the Cavs last season after being traded from Milwaukee.