Timberwolves get: Ricky Rubio, 2020 No. 25 pick (Immanuel Quickley*), 2020 No. 28 pick (Jaden McDaniels)
Thunder get: 2020 No. 17 pick (Aleksej Pokusevski), James Johnson
* Draft rights to Quickley traded to Knicks in a separate deal
Minnesota Timberwolves: B
Rubio's return to Minnesota is a feel-good story all the way around. He remains beloved by Timberwolves fans as one of the team's few bright spots during an extended fallow period, and it was unclear where Rubio might land after being sent by the Phoenix Suns to Oklahoma City as part of the return for Chris Paul.
It will be interesting to see what Rubio's role is in Minnesota, where D'Angelo Russell is set at point guard and the depth chart on the wings got a bit more crowded with the addition of No. 1 overall pick Anthony Edwards earlier in the evening. No matter how much he plays, Rubio should be a strong veteran presence on a roster lacking in them.
Based on the picks exchanged in this deal, the Timberwolves seemed to view Rubio as a bit more valuable than Johnson, which is reasonable. Typically, packaging a 25 and 28 wouldn't move a team up quite this far in the draft. Last year, we saw Philadelphia trade the 24th and 33rd picks to move up just four spots to No. 20 overall to take Matisse Thybulle.
One concern in Minnesota: roster spots. Turning the 17th pick into two first-rounders means the Timberwolves are adding three guaranteed contracts to eight already on the books, including Rubio. Presumably, Minnesota hopes to re-sign restricted free agents Malik Beasley and Juancho Hernangomez after trading yet another first-round pick to get them at the deadline. That's 13 players and doesn't include three non-guaranteed contracts for Naz Reid, Jarred Vanderbilt and 2019 second-round pick Jaylen Nowell or this year's No. 33 pick.
As a result, an implication of this trade is that point guard Jordan McLaughlin could be gettable as a restricted free agent. Based on his unexpectedly strong play as a rookie on a two-way contract, McLaughlin ranked a surprising 13th in my three-year projections for free agents. If my team needed a backup point guard, I'd be targeting McLaughlin with a modest offer sheet.
Oklahoma City Thunder: B+
Rubio never made a great deal of sense in Oklahoma City, and with this deal it gets out of his contract a year earlier. The Thunder have now essentially taken back only expiring contracts for Paul, giving them more flexibility to use cap space to take on bad salaries in the summer of 2021 to accumulate -- you guessed it -- more draft picks.
Of course, one of the reasons you stockpile draft picks is to have the opportunity to move up for somebody you like. In this case, that someone was Aleksej Pokusevski, who was frequently linked to the Dallas Mavericks at No. 18. Even after giving up these picks, Oklahoma City still owns another pick in this range (No. 34) after Wednesday's trade with Philadelphia.