MINNEAPOLIS -- Jaden McDaniels' phone was alerting him to the truth, but his response, typical when hearing something shocking, was denial.
"People were telling me and [I thought] I'm not believing it until my coach tells me," the Minnesota Timberwolves forward said. "Everybody in the group chat starts saying 'OK, this is going to be a challenge at first.'"
It was the afternoon of July 1 when the Wolves executed a four-player, four first-round-pick trade with the Utah Jazz for three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.
The league's executives were stunned by the price Minnesota paid. But the players were taken aback that several of the most popular players within the team, especially veteran leader Patrick Beverley, were being sent out. They'd just had a strong 46-36 season, winning a play-in game to make the playoffs for the second time in 18 years.
"We were already in kind of the mindset to run it back with the pieces that we had," said guard Jordan McLaughlin, now in his fourth season with the Timberwolves. "And then for that trade to happen, it was different for us."
"It wasn't that it put us in a bad mood," said forward Taurean Prince, "but, uh, we were surprised."
What the players, the team's fans and the Wolves' rivals didn't understand at the time was just how all-in on Gobert the Minnesota leadership is. And they don't seem to care what anyone thinks about the infatuation or the details of the trade itself.
Spend some time watching the Wolves this fall -- including Wednesday's preseason game at the Los Angeles Lakers (10 p.m. ET, ESPN) -- and you will soon see they are convinced their massive offseason swing wasn't just a home run, but a grand slam. They believe Gobert isn't just a championship-level acquisition but that he provides an injection of rocket fuel to the rest of their team, particularly their other star players.
"We put up the 30 best players in the league on a board," said Wolves coach Chris Finch, broadly gesturing with his hands as he described meetings when the deal was first seriously contemplated.