3 NBA teams that need a wing player
The NBA's new season is almost here, with the preseason slated to begin in the first week of October. Teams are nearly finished with their final rosters.
But not every roster is complete, with many moves still in the pipeline. The Golden State Warriors will be looking to replace their aging core piece by piece. The LA Lakers will be looking to reconstruct a roster similar to their championship-winning one from 2020.
Many teams will be looking to strengthen their wing places to remain competitive. A wing player is someone who plays along the sides of the court. He can be a shooting guard or a small forward, someone who can switch between defense and offense regularly and with ease.
Three NBA teams that need a wing player
#3, Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls have been trying to build a strong roster and have the pieces that can work. They have Zach Lavine, Nikola Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso.
They haven't been able to achieve big things with this core, however, mainly because of depth. They have a lot of guard depth, with young players like Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. But star guard Lonzo Ball is not expected to play this season as his knee issue persists.
Meanwhile, their wing depth has only role players like Torrey Craig and Patrick Williams. To get better, they should be looking to complement their main center Andre Drummond with another wing.
Lavine and DeRozan have combined well, but they can explore other combinations as well from the bench.
#2, Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves have Anthony Edwards, who seems about to explode into superstardom this season. He had an incredible FIBA tournament and is looking to take his team with Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley to the playoffs.
They have decent forward depth, with Shake Milton and Nas Reid playing important roles last season. But with Karl Anthony-Towns, one cannot say if he can stay healthy long enough to play consistently over time. Gobert is a limited skill-set player who needs support. They do not need forwards, but shooting guards would be great. Bruce Brown from the Denver Nuggets would work.
The Wolves will be better off trading players to get a more experienced wing player. The NBA Western Conference will have a lot of competition for the top spots, and the Timberwolves will be one of the top teams if this move happens.
#1, Portland Trail Blazers
The Trail Blazers are the NBA team that needs a wing player the most. Their best wing player is Justice Winslow. With Damian Lillard looking to leave, they will need a better wing player since Anfernee Simons is more than ready to take up the role left by Lillard. Portland would do great with someone like OG Anunoby, Nic Batum or Pascal Siakam.
The Blazers will want to stay competitive enough because they are not bad enough to tank, nor are they good enough to make it past the first round of the playoffs, if they even make it to the playoffs.