The Minnesota Timberwolves finalized the signing of combo forward Jonathan Kuminga on Wednesday, after the chase was narrowed down to the Wolves and Los Angeles Lakers. Kuminga will sign a two-year, 13 million dollar deal with a player option in the second year, allowing him to re-enter free agency.
It's hard to overstate just how good this deal is for Minnesota, especially after the team decimated their power forward rotation this offseason, trading both Julius Randle and Naz Reid within just a few days.
However, it will come at a cost. The Wolves would sneak just over the second apron upon giving this contract. As they are using a mid-level exception (keyword: exception), a contract they would not have access to if they are over the cap, they need to cut some salary.
There are two real candidates for this: Donte Divincenzo and Josh Green. Divincenzo has been raved about by local media, so it seems unlikely he'll be moved. Green, however, who came to Minnesota as salary filler in the LaMelo Ball trade, could be a candidate.
If he finds himself on the market, the Indiana Pacers offer a great win-win opportunity for player and the team.
Now, the Timberwolves will likely aim to do whatever they can to avoid just cutting an admittedly slightly overpriced veteran three-and-D wing, and are probably angling to find a trade that could make them cheaper without requiring any draft pick compensation going out. But they will need to move quickly to be in line with the constraints of the CBA.
If the Wolves can find a trade, Indiana will miss out on this opportunity.
However, if the Pacers can get Josh Green as the last member of their 15-man roster on a minimum deal, then they might just have made one of the best value signings of the offseason.
Josh Green is the easiest answer to the wing problem
This site has focused quite significantly on the lack of depth options at the Pacers' shooting guard and small forward spots. From trade proposals to Dallas Mavericks guard Max Christie to whole positional reworkings of the current roster from the ground up, it has been a primary topic of concern as the season approaches.
However, each of those moves has its own problems. Any trade would also come with giving up assets, assets that the Pacers do not have many of. While they still could move some or multiple of their first round picks, the salary matching of making a move would damage an already thin rotation.
At the same time, any changes made to individual players' positions would open up massive other holes. Moving Aaron Nesmith to the shooting guard spot elevates Kelly Oubre to the starting lineup and leaves the bench with no real wing options.
Josh Green, instead, would arrive as a zero-risk option and would be a worse clone of Aaron Nesmith. His point-of-attack defense and decent enough shooting would allow him to slot into the rotation as the backup shooting guard, leaving the rotation at a fairly sized nine, with clear backups at each spot and a center rotation of Ivica Zubac and Pascal Siakam in small-ball bursts.
It's not the perfect, ceiling-raising team that more aggressive fans would like, but it does give the Pacers exactly what they need.
Moves don't need to be flashy to be good, and the Pacers don't need to feel bad for bargain shopping.
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