Wolves make moves ahead of draft, trading Julius Randle and the 28th pick to Brooklyn, and re-sign Dosunmu

The Timberwolves are sending the 28th pick in Tuesday's draft to the Nets and will be receiving the No. 33 pick that will be made in the second round on Wednesday night, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal has not received the required approvals from the league office.

ESPN, which first reported the deal, also said the Bulls would be receiving Nic Claxton from Brooklyn in the trade.

For Minnesota, the trade opens up a slew of financial possibilities. It creates a $33 million trade exception, plus gave the Timberwolves room they used to re-sign Ayo Dosunmu — which ESPN said later Monday would happen in the form of a five-year deal that could be worth $112 million — and target more players in free agency.

"Clearly, this team is concerned about Ayo and wanting to retain him, and having the money to be available to retain him, give a contract extension as an unrestricted free agent," WCCO sports host Henry Lake said on the WCCO Morning News Tuesday. "But it also kind of leave the door open for them to go after other people. So this was a money move, clearly."

Randle’s contract had two years and around $68 million remaining, but the second year was a player option.

Dosunmu had a 43-point game off the bench during the opening round of this year's playoffs, when Minnesota ousted Denver.

Randle, a three-time All-Star, will be moving to his fifth team after stints with New York, the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans and the Timberwolves. He averaged 21.1 points this past season, though shot just 39% from the field and 24% from 3-point range in Minnesota's 12 playoff contests.

Lake also said that former owner Glen Taylor was always willing to push the team's payroll up when necessary, and that new ownership led by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez need to prove they're willing to invest in talent after this trade.

"If this team does not utilize the money that they've created with the exceptions and how much money that they've kind of gone under, I'm going to be upset," adds Lake. "And I think that every Timberwolves fan should be upset. I see Anthony Edwards as the most talented basketball player they have ever drafted in this organization, and I want him to win a championship here, be able to make the moves and financially put into the team whatever it takes to win a championship."

Before the trade of Randle, the Wolves were trending toward being a second-apron team and were operating right near, or hard-capped at the first apron. That was before signing Dosunmu. Now, moving Randle and his salary gives Minnesota several options.

• The team can now absorb up to $33.3 million in a trade while using the trade exception generated from moving Randle. There are a number of players reportedly available across the league who have a similar salary.
• They get a full non-taxpayer midlevel exception which is up to $15 million in starting salary. All while remaining below what the NBA calls the "first apron," a strict salary threshold set at approximately $195.9 million.

Teams exceeding this line are subjected to hard-capping and strict roster penalties, such as being restricted from participating in sign-and-trades, using the Bi-Annual Exception, or signing buyout players waived during the regular season.

It was far from the biggest move in the NBA on Monday night, and the biggest involved a player the Wolves reportedly targeted midseason: Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis are heading to Miami for Wisconsin native Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis, giving the Heat one of the best players in the NBA but one who has battled injury issues in recent years.

Milwaukee also gets the No. 13 selection that will be made in Tuesday night’s NBA draft, along with a first-round pick swap in 2030, first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 and a second-rounder in 2033