T’wolves top Jazz in matchup of teams trading with Lakers

SALT LAKECITY (AP) — Anthony Edwards scored 31 points and Jaylen Nowelladded a career-high 30 to lead Minnesota to a 143-118 win over Utahon Wednesday night amid word theTimberwolves, Jazz and LosAngeles Lakers were part of an eight-player swaphours aheadof the NBA trade deadline.

“It wascrazy, the last six hours,” Edwards said. “But, I mean, we’re hereto play basketball at the end of the day. We can’t really feed intothat — we have nothing to do with that. (My teammates) did a greatjob of staying locked in and they kept me locked in.”

Playingloose, the Timberwolves set a season high with 79 points in thefirst half and led 107-80 midway through the third quarter, helpedby 64% shooting from the field and 61% from 3-point range.

While notspeaking directly about a trade that hadn’t been announced,Minnesota coach Chris Finch detailed the difficulty if playingwhile the roster was in flux.

“We justtalked briefly about things before taking the floor. These things,it’s unfortunate timing, you don’t ever get to pick your timing.Maybe in some ways, it was good that we could just play a game andnot have to overthink things. But guys were ready,” Finch said.

Luka Garzascored a career-high 25 points and the Timberwolves made 233-pointers at a 54% shooting clip, tying their highest output ofthe season.

“It wasdefinitely strange,” Garza said of the deal happening just beforethe game. “But I don’t want to ever look back in my time in NBA andbe like, I didn’t make the most of what was my childhooddream.”

Thethree-team trade was confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesdaynight by a person with knowledge of the deal, who spoke oncondition of anonymity because the teams hadn’t announced the majordeal made ahead of Thursday afternoon’s trade deadline.

In the deal,the Timberwolves sent D’Angelo Russell to the Lakers, where heplayed his first two NBA seasons from 2015-17. Utah shipped NickeilAlexander-Walker and Mike Conley to Minnesota and dealt JarredVanderbilt and Malik Beasley to the Lakers. The Jazz receivedRussell Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damian Jones from theLakers, as well as a first-round draft pick in 2027.

The Jazz wereshort-handed in the game without four players who have loggedsignificant minutes this season, as the teams were just shells oftheir former selves.

TheTimberwolves were also missing a host of regulars as Rudy Gobert(groin), Kyle Anderson (back) and Austin Rivers (suspension) wereheld out, and Karl-Anthony Towns is still sidelined with a rightcalf strain.

LauriMarkkanen scored 21 points and Collin Sexton had 20 in Utah’s worsthome loss of the season. Their worst road loss of the season was a26-point defeat to Milwaukee on Dec. 17.

“Credit toMinnesota, they made a lot of shots and we missed a lot ofmake-able shots,” Utah coach Will Hardy said of his team makingjust 31 of 65 shots in the paint. “They made 23 3s at 54% and thatwas too hard for us to overcome.”

This Jazzhave assembled a formidable collection of draft capital, includingkey pieces from Minnesota in last summer’s Gobert deal.

Utah has 15unprotected or lightly protected first-round picks to use through2029, along with a talented under-25 group of Markkanen, WalkerKessler, Sexton and Ochai Agbaji and more than $60 million underthe salary cap if they buy out Westbrook, as expected.

Conley wasUtah’s only true point guard – and one of the last holdovers fromthe Donovan Mitchell and Gobert era. Now, Sexton will have theopportunity to prove he can be an effective starting playmaker on awinning team.

Meanwhile,the Timberwolves will see if they can thrive with a veteran,pass-first point guard like Conley, who is averaging a career high7.7 assists this season.

Jazz guardJordan Clarkson said they have something special coming their wayin Conley.

“He’s aleader, great point guard and a guy that makes everybody’s lifeeasier on the court,” Clarkson said. “That guy was like Yoda,honestly. He had so many stories and he had such an enlightenmentabout him. You just listened to him. … He can communicate withanyone.”

TIP-INS

Timberwolves:After two overtime games, Minnesota has won two games by more than25 points and lost one by 34. … The Timberwolves had 27 fast-breakpoints to just two for the Jazz. … Luke Garza made a career-bestfour 3-pointers.

Jazz: In thefirst quarter, Rudy Gay passed Jason Kidd for 88th on the NBAall-time points scored list with 17,530. … Udoka Azubuike matchedhis season-high of four points with two rim-rattling dunks.