NBA Trade Rumors: Michael Beasley Must Be Traded to Legitimize Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves hung with the Oklahoma City Thunder last night until the final seconds.

They would have won if Michael Beasley didn’t take 27 shots.

He’s the one glaring problem on a great roster stacked with youthful talent and promise.

GM David Kahn has done a surprisingly good job of acquiring Ricky Rubio, Kevin Love, Jose Juan Barea, Derrick Williams and other key pieces, but needs to find a way to dump Beasley to finalize this group.

They cannot have the former second-overall pick jacking up that many attempts and only earning three free throws in 36 minutes.

He’s stealing shots from players who take more quality looks and give them a better chance to win. He also tried to take the game-tying shot in the final seconds and draw a foul, but didn’t get the call. 

Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman cannot be pleased about that and must realize his team simply cannot win with Beasley being their crunch-time scorer.

Adelman was actually asked by a Star-Tribune reporter if he felt comfortable with the number of bricks the starting forward was chucking up and responded gruffly that he would need to review the tape.

Upon doing that, Adelman will realize he should be leaning on Kevin Love, the most proven player on this team, to come through when it counts.

While Beasley was the leading scorer last night, he only put up two more points than Love, and it took him 13 more field goal attempts.

If Kahn can swing a trade to move the oft-troubled forward off the team and acquire future value or even an impact veteran who can make a difference this season, he shouldn’t hesitate.

They simply cannot afford to have Beasley continually firing away without a conscience if they want to build a winning franchise.