What should we make of 'persistent' Timberwolves pursuit of Ben Simmons?

Hi, and welcome to Minnesota sports trade rumor number 1,000 (or something like that).

I exaggerate, but I've also seen so many trade rumblings come and go in my two decades (ugh) covering Minnesota sports that I now view them through different lenses.

And so I have three different ways to think about the update from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski earlier this week that the Timberwolves are "one team that has been persistent with Philadelphia" in trying to engage in trade talks for Ben Simmons.

Woj added that in any Minnesota deal there is a "need to have really (a) third and even four teams in those kind of deal to get back Philly what it would want. ... Certainly, there's a very distinct possibility he's going to have to come back to training camp with them next season."

Pushing aside whether the idea is a good one or not, something that has been covered here before, we have to examine what might really be going on here. So here are three possibilities as I see them.

1. The Woj report was little else except a convenient cover for both the 76ers and the Wolves and nothing is really happening.

The report conveys to the Simmons camp that Philadelphia is still actively engaged in trade talks, something it seems like Simmons wants. And it makes it look like the Wolves are really in the mix to make a blockbuster deal, something that will string along the portion of the fan base desperate for a home run move.

If/when nothing happens, Simmons goes to camp with the 76ers and they try to work things out and/or boost his trade value before the deadline. The Wolves can say they tried.

Is it cynical to suggest this? Yes. Have teams engaged in this sort of thing in the past? Yes.

2. The Wolves have genuine interest in acquiring Simmons, but the interest is more one-sided than two-sided and they just don't have the right assets to make a deal work. Would you include D'Angelo Russell, Jaden McDaniels and at least one first-round pick in a deal? I would, but that's a steep price — and still might not be enough. Hence the need to engage multiple teams in order to get a bona fide star back to the 76ers for their win-now timeline. Trades like that aren't impossible, but they are complicated and prone to break down.

3. There's a lot of fire where the smoke exists and something is likely to actually get done — with the Woj report being just one more turn of the screw leading in that direction.

My inclination is to think the second possibility is the most likely — and that a potential Simmons trade is not impossible, it's a long shot. I think engaging in any talks has the potential side benefits of No. 1, and I think both sides know that, but that's probably not the starting point.

Whether we get to No. 3 is a good question. If we do, and a trade actually happens, check back with me in about five years for a revised list of the three best and worst trades in Wolves history (a subject I tackled on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast).

A Simmons deal would almost certainly be on one list or the other.