Reports have recently surfaced that Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor are not actually the shoo-ins for the top two picks of the coming NBA Draft on June 25. According to Brett Pollakoff of NBC Sports' Pro Basketball Talk, the Minnesota Timberwolves are also looking at the possibility of selecting Ohio State's point guard D'Angelo Russell to be the no. 1 pick and trading current starting playmaker Ricky Rubio in the process.

Like Us on Facebook

Wolves' president and head coach Flip Saunders reportedly said that they might consider trading Rubio to give way to Russell if a "right deal" presents itself. This means if any team would be willing to trade an All-Star or a veteran big for Rubio, the 6-foot-5 Russell could become the top pick of this year's draft.

As per HNGN's Jordan Webb, Saunders is a long-time admirer of Russell and had been eyeing the soon-to-be rookie because of his high basketball IQ, scoring and passing skills, and an NBA-ready defensive game. At 19 years old, his athleticism is unmatched by anyone in the current draft class.

Russell's perceived advantage over Rubio is his ability to shoot the ball from just about anywhere on the court, as reported by Fansided's Cody Williams. Perhaps this is the main reason why Saunders is considering a point guard change. Imagine giving a penetrator like Andrew Wiggins someone to kick out the ball to and the drain the three consistently. The Wolves' offense would instantly become a hard puzzle to solve.

However, trading Rubio for a quality big man will not be as easy as it seems. Even if he is an excellent point guard and a young veteran with career averages of 10.2 PPG, 8.2 APG, and 4.3 RPG, his outside shooting and shot selection (.367 career FG%) continues to hamper his overall game. In this era of high-scoring point guards, not many teams would see Rubio as a difference-maker especially during the postseason. Moreover, his four-year contract worth $55 million may be too big for any team to take.

The 24-yeard-old Rubio was the 5th pick of the 2009 NBA Draft but because of legal issues regarding his contract with Joventut Badalona in the Spanish professional league, he was able to start playing in the NBA only during the 2011-2012 season. 

TagsNBA 2015, NBA news, NBA News 2015, NBA rumors, NBA Rumors 2015, NBA Trade Rumors, NBA trade rumors 2015, Minnesota Timberwolves, Ricky Rubio, D'Angelo Russell