After shippping Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a block buster trade deal that brought in Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, and Thaddeus Young, to their roster, the Minnesota Timberwolves are set for a complete rebuild. Unfortunately for the 30 year old JJ Barea, he simply has no place for the Wolves youth movement. Minneosta tried to unload Barea and his one-year $4.5 million contract to the Philadelphia 76ers during the Kevin Love trade but failed to do so, now they will have to explore their options with the veteran point guard.
The Timberwolves though are still hopeful that they can move Barea this offseason and are open to buying out his contract if they cant find a willing trade partner acording to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News and AM 1500 ESPN.
But since the Timberwolves have still not moved Barea with training camp drawing near, they may just be looking at holding on to him before the February trade deadline as an insurance incase injuries start popping up. The team could then use Barea as a trade chip to bring in another quality young player in their roster possibly from a team in need of a veteran point guard like Barea heading into the playoffs or use his expiring contract to facilitate a mid-season trade.
"Minnesota has 15 guaranteed contracts, so the roster limit isn't a huge concern. Barea's $4,519,500 expiring contract could facilitate a mid-season trade, but that option is off the table if he's cut." From Dan Feldman of ProBasketballTalk.
After attempting to dump him to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Minnesota Timberwolves clearly find no place for JJ Barea in their rebuilding exploits. They are still hopeful that they can move him this offseason and are open to buying out his contract but they may just try to hold on to him until the february trade deadline where they can use him and his expiring contract to facilitate a trade deal.
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