A proposed three-team trade could swap three different star forwards. The Wolves would acquire Brandon Ingram, New Orleans gets Miles Bridges, and Charlotte acquires Julius Randle . While this trade works due to contracts, all three teams would have to add another player or some future draft capital to sweeten up the deal.

Even when the Timberwolves look like they're figuring it out with seven wins in 10 games, they revealed themselves as an unserious basketball team when they trailed the Warriors 34-12 after one quarter Wednesday night and wound up losing 116-115. It was the latest speed bump in a season full of inconsistencies.

Just a month into the offseason, though, that dominant core took a massive change. Two months later, that strong core had all but disappeared.