Knicks, Timberwolves didn't need a Giannis Antetokounmpo blockbuster to get better at NBA trade deadline
The reported Antetokounmpo suitors filled holes on their respective rosters on Thursday
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4 min read
Maybe Giannis Antetokounmpo was always a pipe dream for the Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks. Maybe manufacturing enough first-round draft picks to satisfy the Milwaukee Bucks was impossible. Maybe the Bucks were never really serious about trading him before Thursday's deadline. And maybe that's OK. Both teams found ways to improve anyway.
For the Timberwolves, Ayo Dosunmu, acquired from the Chicago Bulls, is a godsend. Minnesota has been short on reliable rotation players, and it has specifically needed another playmaking, floor-spacing, point-of-attack-defending combo guard to replace Nickeil-Alexander Walker, who left for the Atlanta Hawks in free agency last summer. I doubt Dosunmu will start when the Wolves are at full strength -- he started just 10 of the 45 games he played for the Bulls this season, and Minnesota's starting five is the league's most-used lineup for a reason -- but it's hard to overstate how well he fits in.
The Timberwolves gave up former No. 8 pick Rob Dillingham, former No. 33 pick Leonard Miller and four second-round picks for Dosunmu and Julian Phillips. It's a bummer that The Dillingham Escape Plan (what I'm calling their bet on him developing into a starting-caliber lead guard by the time Mike Conley couldn't play that role anymore) didn't work out and I'm curious to see what Miller can do on a team that has room for him, but this is a small price to pay for a player as productive as Dosunmu. Even if his career-high 45.1% 3-point percentage doesn't hold up, he's precisely the type of player that can tilt a playoff series. He'll find easy buckets in transition, find ways to get downhill in the halfcourt and make Minnesota significantly better by taking minutes that have been going to Bones Hyland and Jaylen Clark. When he's on a heater, he'll put up 20-something points in 20-something minutes, and he might dish seven or eight assists, too.
Ideally, the Wolves wouldn't have needed to make a move like this. When they waved goodbye to Alexander-Walker, they were hoping that, between Dillingham, Clark, Hyland and Terrence Shannon Jr., they had enough talent on the bench to make up for his absence. That was definitively not the case, but, when it became clear to them that Milwaukee wasn't that interested in discussing an Antetokounmpo deal, they set their sights on a guy who is tailor-made to fill the hole on their roster. Dosunmu will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, but, presumably, they won't make the same mistake they did last time.
For the Knicks, Thursday could have been a terrible day, as The Athletic reported that Deuce McBride has a sports hernia, needs surgery and could be sidelined until the playoffs. McBride is having a phenomenal season, and New York has been 9.2 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court than without him in non-garbage-time minutes, the highest on/off differential on the team, per Cleaning The Glass. Fortunately, the Knicks managed to acquire exactly the right guy to fill in for him: Jose Alvarado, the pesky, 6-foot guard who has been energizing the New Orleans Pelicans since 2021.
To be clear, New York was looking for another ballhandler before it knew McBride needed surgery, per The Athletic, but the news made it a more urgent matter. And the way that the Knicks made it happen was something of a miracle. To get Alvarado, they traded Dalen Terry and two second-round picks to the Pelicans. And the only reason they had Terry in the first place, per SNY, is that Guerschon Yabusele agreed to waive his $5.8 million player option for next season. Yabusele did that because he knew he'd get playing time with the Bulls, who were prepared to trade Terry for him as long as they wouldn't be on the hook for that $5.8 million.
If you're a huge Tyler Kolek believer, you might not be that psyched about this sequence of events. I suspect, however, that Alvarado, who was born in Brooklyn and played his high school ball at Christ The King in Queens, will become a fan favorite at Madison Square Garden in no time. He can initiate offense when Jalen Brunson is on the bench, and, like McBride, will be comfortable playing off the ball alongside Brunson. He is small, but, like McBride, compensates with physicality and sheer effort on defense. I can't wait for the first "Grand Theft Alvarado" at MSG, but his penchant for sneaky steals isn't the reason he has lasted. It's because he makes good decisions, over and over, and plays hard as hell.
Alvarado is one of the league's best backups at his position, and he's on a team-friendly contract ($4.5 million this season, then a $4.5 million player option). The Knicks effectively got him for a big man who wasn't in their rotation and a couple of second-round picks. Grand Theft Alvarado, indeed.
