LeBron, Tatum dazzle in abridged Seattle pro-am

The Minnesota Timberwolves’ pursuit of Kevin Durant leading to the trade deadline was serious enough where they began calling rival teams to help facilitate a deal. The Wolves had to get under the NBA’s second apron in order to aggregate contracts to acquire Durant and his $51 million contract.

While Durant is more than a decade older than Anthony Edwards, the Wolves have operated with a sense of urgency in building around him evidenced by their decision to send control of their upcoming drafts to the Utah Jazz for Rudy Gobert in 2022.

But there had been little sense Tim Connelly had interest in a significant in-season deal so soon after trading away Karl-Anthony Towns, but he saw a unique opportunity with the sudden availability of Durant.

Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball is “nowhere close” to returning, per Bulls coach Billy Donovan. Ball still hasn’t progressed to consistent running a year after having meniscus surgery.

“He’s made some progress, but I’d be the first one to tell you he’s nowhere near playing,” Donovan said. “He’s just not. Because he’s not running on a consistent basis. When he can get to that place where he can do that consistently and be able to come back the next day and do it again, do it again and do it again – I think you’ll feel a little bit more optimistic.”

Ball last played in a game on January 14, 2022. Ball still can’t run at full speed and do more than light jumping to shoot or dunk. Donovan said Bulls leadership would need to see significant improvement before the All-Star Break, or it’s time for some difficult conversations.

“If you start to get to that point, I think there will probably end up being some conversations: ‘OK, what if he’s still not close to playing? What’s the plan going forward?'” Donovan said.