Luke Ridnour Should Be Traded This Summer

The Minnesota Timberwolves need to make a lot of decisions this summer to help them become competitive again. One of the first moves they should consider is trading guard Luke Ridnour in the final year of his contract.

It’s not as if Ridnour has been bad this season for the Timberwolves. Ridnour has actually started every game for Minnesota at both guard positions while averaging a career high 12.4 points and dishing out four assists to go along with it. But with the Brandon Roy signing turning out to be a failure the Timberwolves will almost certainly look to upgrade their starting shooting guard position either with rookie Alexey Shved, Malcolm Lee when he returns from injury next season, via free agency or even the NBA draft.

The Timberwolves already have back up point J.J. Barea signed through the 2014-2015 season to spell Ricky Rubio, leaving Ridnour as the odd man out. There probably won’t be much of a market for a 31-year old point guard like Ridnour due to make $4.32 million, but given that his deal expires some team may be willing to take on the short term investment for the ever-so-valuable cap space of an expiring contract. Worst case scenario, the Timberwolves can use Ridnour as a throw-in as part of a package deal.

Ridnour has done well for himself and found a way to stay in an NBA rotation throughout his career to date. A smart point guard that limits his turnovers and can knock down shots like Ridnour will always have a place in the league. His place next season should simply be for another team besides the Timberwolves.