Signing the promising Glen Robinson III was a no-brainer move for the Minnesota Timberwolves with training camp drawing near. Robinson gave them great value for a second round pick and cheap, young talent is just what the team needs now that they are heading into a complete rebuild after shipping Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a block buster trade this offseason.
With Robinson's signing, the Timberwolves now have 16 players with guaranteed contracts but the regular-season roster limit stands at 15 which means they need to cut one player from their current roster. The 30 year old JJ Barea, who is coming off one of the worst statistical seasons in his career in the NBA, is clearly the odd man out and now the Timberwolves are hopeful that they can move him out and his one year $4.5 million contract or they will be forced to buy him out per Darren Wolfson of 1500ESPN.com.
The Washington Wizards where one of the team who reportedly had interest in Barea. The team needed another guard behind John wall and during the February 20 trade deadline, they were willing to send Jan Vesely or Chris Singleton in exchange for Barea according to CSNwashington. The Denver Nuggets, however, became the team to fill the Wizard's need in the point guard position after agreeing to trade the veteran Andre Miller to the Wizards for Vesely in a three-team trade that also involved the Philadelphia 76ers. Now the Timberwolves are without an interested trade partner for Barea and it seems that they will have no other choice but to buy out his contract.
The Minnesota Timberwolves tried and failed to dump Barea and his contract to the Philadelphia 76ers in the Kevin Love block buster trade. Now that the Wizards have lost interest, its difficult to see how the Wolves would be able to deal him now with the scheduled training camp drawing near. They obviously don't have any need for Barea and his huge contract after signing Mo Williams in July which means that buying him out is the only plausible option for the team.
Join the Conversation