The Timberwolves traded back 16 spots on the second-round draft board Thursday afternoon, the cost of doing business to move off the third year of Wendell Moore Jr.’s rookie contract.

Minnesota will now select 53rd overall with its third pick in the NBA draft.

Moore Jr. was a late first-round selection by the Wolves in 2022. He appeared in 54 NBA games but amassed just 228 total minutes. The 22-year-old was never a legitimate threat to crack the Wolves’ rotation.

Moore is due $2.5 million in the upcoming season, a club option Minnesota exercised last fall. That deal eats up a minimum contract by roughly a half million dollars, which can amount to a sizeable savings when you’re in the luxury tax as the Wolves are.

The Wolves could be criticized for picking up that option on the former first-round pick that they ultimately had to essentially pay to dump. But it’s difficult to blame the organization — which needs young talent on cheap contracts given its high-money players at the top of the roster — for not wanting to punt on a young player so quickly.

But now the time to cut ties was especially clear. The first-round draft additions on Wednesday of Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. only moved Moore further down the pecking order. Moore Jr.’s 2025-26 option is for $4.5 million, a number Minnesota would not consider picking up.

So, the opportunity to save some money and move on for a reasonably small cost made sense.

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