Milwaukee Bucks
Knee-jerk move: Trading Khris Middleton
The Milwaukee Bucks are finally healthy. After making his return over the last few games, Khris Middleton is trying to get his feet under him. The Bucks have played better of late but have understandably dropped a couple of games as they begin to get Middleton into the swing of things. It's going to take some time before Middleton looks like his usual self but it's certainly a good thing that he's made his regular-season debut. But now that he's healthy, there is one path the Bucks could go down ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline - moving Middleton.
If the Bucks theoretically wanted to make a big move, trading Middleton would almost certainly be the path toward accomplishing that. However, despite their inconsistent start to the season, I'm not sure that's a resolution for the Bucks. At least for now, it would be foolish for the Bucks to completely retool their core supporting cast around Giannis Antetokounmpo. It's far from perfect but the offseason is a much better time to explore such big moves - not in the middle of the season.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Knee-jerk move: Trading Julius Randle
Even though the Minnesota Timberwolves have begun to play later of late, this is a team that has been one of the bigger disappointments in the Western Conference. With the way they ended last season, there were many that were expecting the Wolves to be a strong contender this season. While that could still be the case down the stretch, the Wolves have been too inconsistent so far this year to be considered a legitimate championship contender thus far. One potential reason why could be the trade of Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Wolves haven't been the same since that huge offseason move and there's reason to believe that Minnesota could end up thinking hard about trading Julius Randle in an attempt to find some other possibilities to surround Anthony Edwards with. At least for now, I would suggest that would be an unnecessary knee-jerk reaction to their inconsistent start to the season. There may be a time during the offseason or next year when it's time to trade Randle, I can't imagine that being at this year's trade deadline.