It’s decision week for LeBron James on whether or not he will pick up his player-option for the 2018-2019 NBA season. It’s widely expected that he will decline the option and become a free agent when the free agency period opens on July 1st. Many experts have pawned the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers and even the Golden State Warriors as possible destinations for the 33-year old. However, one team has not been mentioned by anyone as a possibility, and that is the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Why the Timberwolves?

One word: KAT

Ok, ok, Karl-Anthony Towns’ name abbreviation shouldn’t count as a word, but LeBron hasn’t played with a dominant center in his entire career. Let’s take a look at the centers that he has played with:

37-year old Shaquille O’Neal

Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Tristan Thompson

Kevin Love

Channing Frye

Timofey Mosgov

Anderson Varejao

Kendrick Perkins

Brendan Haywood

Andrew Bynum

Joe Smith

Scot Pollard

Bruno Sundov

DeSagana Diop

Eddy Curry

Chris Anderson

Chris Bosh

Greg Oden

Long list right? James’ entire career has had a revolving door of starting centers on his teams. The only name that jumps out is Chris Bosh. Kevin Love is a great offensive piece, as many Timberwolves fans know, but he offers almost nothing on the defensive end. Shouldn’t James go somewhere where he can finally rely on a low-post presence?

Towns is going into his fourth year in the league, has never missed a game, was the 2015-2016 NBA Rookie of the Year and is coming off his first All-Star year. He has three seasons of top ten rebounds per game, last year finishing fourth. He has two seasons finishing top ten in blocks per game, however, he did finish first last year in total fouls.

Towns is also only making $7.8 million, a relatively minuscule amount compared to what other players of his caliber are making. Having him make that amount of money is key to bring in such a huge contract that LeBron will command. However, other hurdles remain.

Where to shed salary?

IF, a big if, James were to join the Timberwolves, the team would need to shed some serious weight off their salary cap. Along with Towns, the T’wolves presumably would keep Jimmy Butler, making $20.4 million, and Taj Gibson, making $14 million, as they are Coach Tom Thibodeau’s former Chicago Bulls players and form a very potent defensive tandem. If James were to join the team with the player option salary that he is deciding on with the Cleveland Cavaliers, that would add $35.6 million to the former three players’ salaries to combine for $77.8 million. The salary cap for the 2018-2019 season is set at $101 million, so the team would have roughly $23.2 million to fill out 11 more roster spots.

However, to even begin to think of James to Minnesota as a possibility, some trades need to happen. The first name that would need to go would be Andrew Wiggins. Set to make roughly $25.3 million, Wiggins currently accounts for 21.7% of the team’s salary cap. They would need to find a taker for Wiggins and his contract while bringing on an expiring, non-guaranteed contract. Wiggins would attract many teams, as he is an elite offensive option. However, the contract and his lack of counting stats outside of scoring may make some teams shy away from paying such a one-dimensional player.

Another player with a salary that needs to vanish from the payroll is Jeff Teague. Teague had a productive first year with Minnesota, averaging 14.2 points per game along with 7.0 assists per game. However, his salary is at $19 million, so that salary will need to find a new home. Teague is signed for two more years and could attract some suitors looking for veteran leadership at the point guard position and solid production.

The final player that would need to be moved is Gorgui Dieng. This would be a huge loss as he’s been a pretty durable player for the Timberwolves over the past three seasons. However, his salary stands at roughly $15.2 million, so it’s either a bench player makes that much or he’s sent packing to make room for LeBron.

This sheds $59.5 million off the cap. In addition to those subtractions, the team would probably need to renounce the restricted status on Nemanja Bjelica, making him an unrestricted free agent, and waive Cole Aldrich, since his deal isn’t guaranteed.

With all this salary gone, what would a team with LeBron possibly look like?

LeBron, KAT, Butler the New Big 3? Who else would be on this team?

So as stated previously, the only guarantees would be James, Towns, Butler, and Gibson. This accounts for $77.8 million out of $101 million allotted. There would be holdovers from last year’s roster not making much money to help fill out the roster. Tyus Jones and Justin Patton combine for $5.1 million, so that brings us to $82.9 million on the cap, with $18.1 million left to spend and nine roster spots.

Potential line up with ONLY these six players:

PG: Jones

SG: Butler

SF: James

PF: Gibson

C: Towns

Sixth: Patton

So yeah, big time needs for depth. With $18.1 million to divvy up between nine players, options are few and far between. Would a player like Jahlil Okafor take a cheap deal to come to Minnesota? How about Nerlens Noel? Both players could look to sign one year “prove it” deals to increase their value for the following free agency class. Kentavius Caldwell-Pope and Michael Beasley are intriguing options for “wing” player depth. As far as point guard depth goes, Michael Carter-Williams, Seth Curry, Devin Harris, Jameer Nelson and Avery Bradley offer solid options without the expensive price tag. A possible roster could look like:

PG: Jones

SG: Butler

SF: James

PF: Gibson

C: Towns

Sixth: Okafor

Bench: Pope

Bench: Okogie (rookie)

Bench: Bates-Diop (rookie)

Bench: Carter-Williams

Bench: Bradley

Bench: Patton

This team would be extremely versatile and defensive-minded, with enough offensive firepower to compete with the best of the West. It would also pose an intriguing opportunity for James to show that he can bring another team to the Finals, but in the very competitive Western Conference. Also, James could do what the best player in Timberwolves history, Kevin Garnett, couldn’t do: bring Minnesota their first NBA Championship.

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