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One Year Later: Grading the Rudy Gobert trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves

By Chad Porto

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - DECEMBER 09: Rudy Gobert #27 of the Minnesota Timberwolves dunks during the second half of a game against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Arena on December 09, 2022 in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - DECEMBER 09: Rudy Gobert #27 of the Minnesota Timberwolves dunks during the second half of a game against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Arena on December 09, 2022 in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images) /
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 How did the Utah Jazz do with the Rudy Gobert trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves?

It’s been nearly a year since the Utah Jazz decided to blow up their team and trade away its three best players in Bojan Bogdanovic, Rudy Gobert, and Donovan Mitchell. Since then the Jazz have developed a promising young corp of guys, escalating the hope for the franchise heading into its new era.

A hope that the team wouldn’t have without the Gobert trade to the Minnesota Timberwolves. So let’s break down the trade and how it went for both teams.

Trade Recap

The Jazz sent Gobert to the Timberwolves for a massive haul in return. The team got back some good players, Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, and Jarred Vanderbilt, none of whom are still with the Jazz today but are in the NBA. They also got Leandro Bolmaro, who is now out of the NBA and playing for Liga ACB’s CB Canarias. But the biggest name the team got back is Walker Kessler, future Defensive Player of the Year candidate and current member of Team USA’s FIBA World Cup squad.

The Jazz also got back four unprotected first-round picks in 2023, 2025, and 2027, and a swap in 2026. While also getting a Top-5 protected pick in 2029.

2022-2023 season results

We’ve talked before about how the Utah Jazz’s season was a bit shocking, over-producing on a season that many thought was lost due to the major trades. Considering they were pushing for a playoff spot at best or a play-in spot all year at worst, many fans were happy with how the Jazz season went.

As for the Minnesota Timberwolves, they underperformed. While Gobert got a lot of flack for that, he had the best defensive rating (109) of anyone who played 100 combined minutes in the season or more, and only Nickeil Alexander-Walker had a higher defensive RAPTOR score than Gobert. Gobert did his job, but the team was without Karl-Anthony Towns for 65% of the season. That did more harm to the team than Gobert.

The sad truth is that the Wolves were not built for defense even before Gobert’s arrival. He excelled in Utah due to the team building a defense that used him correctly, and it showed on a nightly basis that Minnesota did not know how to use Gobert.

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