As of last week, the Minnesota Timberwolves were confident that they would be able to complete a sign-and-trade with the Portland Trailblazers for guard Nicolas Batum.
With the Blazers supplying the Wolves a list of three teams that they would be willing to complete a three-team deal with (including players such as Robin Lopez of the Phoenix Suns, Kyle Korver who at the time was a member of the Chicago Bulls and an unknown member of the Denver Nuggets), it seemed as though Batum would be coming to Minnesota.
However, with Phoenix unimpressed with the offers for Lopez and the back-and-forth nature of Portland's general manager Neil Olshey, the deal is stuck in limbo and appears all but dead.
Willing to work around the three-team option, Minnesota offered three first-round picks for Batum under the stipulation that the Blazers also took on the contract of Darko Milicic but Portland was uninterested in the proposal.
According to a report by ESPN 1500, the Timberwolves never offered Derrick Williams in any proposal for Batum as was reported by Comcast Portland, despite his being asked for on the Portland end.
Ultimately, the drama will be coming to an end on Wednesday night when Portland will seemingly retain Batum's services by matching the Timberwolves' offersheet.
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