It is truthful to say Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly’s default place is to not stand pat.
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In February 2023, he moved D’Angelo Russell for Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker – two key elements of the Timberwolves’ eight-man rotation that simply reached the Western Convention finals for the second straight 12 months.
Final October, Connelly shipped four-time NBA All-Star Karl-Anthony Cities to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo – two extra key items in that eight-man rotation.
So, with the NBA draft and free company quick approaching, what would possibly Connelly have in retailer with the intention to get the Timberwolves to their first NBA title?
“I mean, you’re always just guessing,” Connelly mentioned. “I mean, I don’t know. I mean, until you win it all, you’ve got to be very self-critical and look for areas where you can improve upon.
“This time of 12 months is very lively as a result of the draft free company, so it is actually one of many largest transactional home windows we’ve got. We really feel very pleased with the core we’ve got. We do not really feel like there is a super strain to do a lot. However, , till you are elevating the trophy, you have to be lively and artistic as attainable to attempt to get to some extent the place, sooner or later, you are the ultimate workforce.”
Presuming Connelly wants to bring back every member of that eight-man rotation that went 27-12 over the final three months of the regular season and defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 and the Golden State Warriors 4-1 in the playoffs, he’s going to have to do some financial gymnastics.
Minnesota led the NBA in total cap allocations in 2024-25 at $237,156,897. Hypothetically, the Wolves could live well above the cap again, but forwards Julius Randle and Naz Reid are veterans who get to decide whether to accept a contract option for next season or become a free agent. Meanwhile, Alexander-Walker is an unrestricted free agent.
“The purpose is to maintain everyone,” Connelly said.
But if any or all three move on, the Timberwolves have the Nos. 17 and 31 picks in the NBA draft. They also have three youngsters who just completed their first season – wing Terrence Shannon Jr., guard Rob Dillingham and forward Jaylen Clark – who could warrant more minutes next year.
At the same time, the current group lost the Western Conference finals in five games to the Oklahoma City Thunder – an organization loaded with enough younger players and first-round picks that it ought to contend for several more years.
“I believe workforce grew collectively because it bought to know one another, so I do not know if there is a ton of sure skillsets we want,” Connelly said. “I believe it is extra type of collective maturity – to have the ability to play other ways and have… , each evening we’re not going to have the ability to be super-productive. So how will we win these video games type of within the mud?
“You know, we’ve got a bunch of guys who have these huge roles that are starting to get a little bit older. So you always want to have people behind them. So I think there’s some positions that potentially could be more of need because of how the present roster is set up.”
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