There was a lot of confusion when Trey Burke was selected No. 9 overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA Draft on Thursday. Minnesota already has Ricky Rubio at point guard, so why would they also want Burke? It turns out they didn’t; they quickly traded Burke.
Minnesota dealt Burke to the Utah Jazz for the Nos. 14 and 21 overall picks. The confusion over the trade was heightened when Yahoo! Sports reporter Adrian Wojnarowski initially said Burke was being traded to Portland before correcting himself and saying Utah.
What’s interesting is the timing of the trade. Burke actually learned he was being traded while on air with Ryen Russillo, Will Perdue, and Marc Kestecher on ESPN Radio.
Burke started the interview saying he was excited to play with the T-Wolves, and less than three minutes later he learned on air that he was traded.
“Wow. Wow. Yeah, I see [that it’s a business],” Burke said after Marc Stein broke the news of the trade to him.
“I’m pretty surprised right now, but definitely excited,” said Burke. “I’m totally blindsided but, hey, it’s a business.”
Burke told the hosts he didn’t even work out for the Jazz, making the trade even more shocking.
Burke was asked whether he would be keeping his T-Wolves hat as a souvenir, and he said no.
It’s too bad that Minnesota already has Rubio, because they traded away a good player. The Jazz are getting themselves a top-flight point guard.
Thanks to LBS tipster David for the heads up
