Northwest, OKC Thunder NBA FA Primer: Masters of the West
Minnesota Timberwolves
Situation Entering Offseason:
The Thibodeau experiment never made much impact and the Jimmy Butler exercise failed so the Wolves turned the page to move into the KAT era. The question now is how Karl-Anthony Towns takes what is considered one of the best big man games in the NBA and shifts it into winning — in the postseason.
Regardless of what you feel about KAT’s talent or Jimmy Buckets in your face messages, there remains one simple fact. In the last15 years, no non-Kevin Garnett Wolves team has experienced postseason play except the team Jimmy Butler was on!
For Towns to continue to be considered a top talent or better, take another step toward being among the top ten to five players in the NBA he’ll need to lead his squad to that next level.
Salary:
Cap Space: $ (58,837,323.00)
Floor Space: $ 16,246,149.00
Max Space: $ (1,403,724.00)
Projected Space: $ (58,637,323.00)
*as per Keith Smith of Real GM
Key free agents to re-sign:
There aren’t any significant priorities on the Wolves players who enter the 2019 NBA Free Agency market. Taj Gibson was the most likely on the list but Minnesota outright waived him. This presumably to clear space to go after the player they are said to be coveting which is D’Angelo Russell.
Told that D'Angelo Russell's team would not have set a meeting with the Minnesota Timberwolves without assurances Wolves could clear the necessary cap space to sign Russell. Minnesota has made it clear they believe they can get to the $27.25M max space necessary to sign Russell.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 29, 2019
As per above, it seems the overriding narrative is that the Wolves are actively shopping Andrew Wiggins and believe they can move his contract. Wiggins must be buying into this thinking since his Twitter account which used to say Wolves or Minnesota after Jayhawk now says “NBA”.
One key to watch for this coming season is if Robert Covington is back and healthy. His absence was a big loss to the squad and his overall contributions from the perimeter and defensively were sorely missed.
Multiple teams have heard that Minnesota is confident that they can trade Andrew Wiggins this summer. Doing so could open up the cap space necessary to sign D'Angelo Russell, who is tight with Karl-Anthony Towns. https://t.co/97qfsxL0Xd
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 29, 2019
For those who might’ve suspected Derrick Rose would be in play the combination of him being more of one of Thib’s guys and his age likely factor into the lack of interest from Minny.
2019 Roster Depth:
- Robert Covington
- Gorgui Dieng
- Keita Bates-Diop
- Josh Okogie
- Cam Reynolds
- Jeff Teague
- Karl-Anthony Towns
- Andrew Wiggins
Draft Picks:
- Jarrett Culver
- Jaylen Nowell
Outside teams expected to have some level of interest in #Twolves FA Taj Gibson: Clippers... Nets... Bucks... Bulls... Warriors... Raptors... Blazers... Hornets... Lakers.
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) June 29, 2019
2019 free agents
Taj Gibson (team officially waived)
Anthony Tolliver
Tyus Jones (Restricted – team extended qualifying offer)
Derrick Rose
Luol Deng
Jared Terrell (Restricted)
C.J. Williams (Restricted)
Jerryd Bayless
Trade:
Dario Saric (traded to Phoenix Suns as part of draft night deal)
2020 free agents
Jeff Teague
Cameron Reynolds (Team officially waived)