NBA Rumors: Jrue Holiday, George Hill, Jeff Teague Linked to Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves will target a trio of point guards in free agency in an effort to bolster their backcourt.

Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN in Minneapolis (via RealGM) reported Monday the Timberwolves have Jrue Holiday, George Hill and Jeff Teague on their summer wish list.

Minnesota selected Kris Dunn with the fifth overall pick of last year's draft, while Ricky Rubio is under contract for the next two years. Still, the Timberwolves' desire to spend big on a free-agent point guard is little surprise.

Dunn had a disappointing rookie season in which he averaged 3.8 points and 2.4 assists a game and shot 28.8 percent from three-point range. Rubio, meanwhile, is a victim to the NBA's shift to point guards who can not only run an offense but also create their own shot. Rubio has never averaged more than 11.1 points a game over an entire season, and he's a career 31.5 percent shooter from beyond the arc.

The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski reported in January the Timberwolves were making Rubio available via trade. When the season officially ends, those rumors may spark up again. ESPN.com's Ian Begley reported June 5 some members of the New York Knicks front office are angling for a Rubio trade.

Trading Rubio would likely be the easy part for Minnesota. The hard part will be signing an adequate replacement.

The rising salary cap, coupled with the market for point guards, will make the price to sign Holiday, Teague or Hill extremely high. In addition, the players' respective teams will almost certainly want to bring all three back.

General manager Scott Layden is smart to identify point guard as an area of need this summer, but he should make sure to have a contingency plan should the opportunity to sign one of Holiday, Teague or Hill fall through.