Tentative Timberwolves, Wild TV deal for Bally Sports and Wolves chatter from media day

Ongoing negotiations between Diamond Sports and its creditors as well as major cable/satellite providers are at the tops of minds of half the NBA teams. That certainly includes the Timberwolves, as I gleaned Thursday at the team's media day.

If the Wolves, the other 14 NBA teams and 12 NHL teams whose games are shown on Bally Sports channels were hoping for some clarity with their seasons about to begin, it might have arrived just in time.

The New York Post is reporting that Diamond Sports has a tentative agreement in place on roughly one-year deals to keep their Bally regional sports channels on both Comcast and DirecTV. The Comcast deal was set to expire this week, while the DirecTV deal was up at the end of October. Both are considered essential for the future existence of Diamond Sports.

The Post also reported that in an attempt to satisfy creditors, Diamond is proposing up to a 20% reduction in rights fees paid to those 27 NBA and NHL teams — with both leagues reportedly leaning toward agreeing to such a deal, as I talked about on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast.

That would potentially cost the Wolves and Wild millions of dollars this season, but it would at least preserve stable income from local TV rights for at least another year. And it almost certainly means the Wolves and Wild would remain on Bally Sports North for at least this season.

The Wolves have three seasons left on their current deal with Bally, while the Wild are believed to have multiple years left on their contract as well. Whether they reach the finish line with those deals is another question, as one Post source predicted Diamond will be liquidated at some point.

Here are four more observations from Wolves media day:

*President Tim Connelly set some simple, straightforward goals for the organization: "Be better than last year. We've got to win a playoff series. It's been way too long since we've had success in the postseason."

*Head coach Chris Finch said the Wolves are still searching for an identity. I asked him what the team's best potential identity would be. "We should be defensively led. We have a lot of individual defenders. ... Play a little bit bigger, like a big team should. Pound the glass on both ends, be a little more physical in the paint."

*Anthony Edwards had high praise for Heat coach Erik Spoelstra after getting to know him with Team USA this summer. "I get how he gets his team to play hard every night," Edwards said. "He's just a great coach. He has great plays."

*Karl-Anthony Towns seemed a bit subdued during his 10-minute session with the media, but he perked up and smiled whenever he talked about playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Cup this summer.