Gorgui Dieng has two years left on his four-year, $62.8 million contract after this year, and the Wolves — on the hook for two max contracts with Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins — need to extract some sort of value out of Dieng going forward.

That figures to occur naturally with Taj Gibson's deal expiring. With Gibson sidelined by a calf injury these past six games, Dieng has averaged 10.3 points in just 16 minutes on 61 percent shooting.

It's been 2.5 years since he inked that big contract — one that he earned and was considered a bargain by some at the time, and money he has put to good use.

The main reason he hasn't produced as much over the first half of the contract is simple lack of opportunity.

If you want to be frustrated, direct it at the decision to sign Gibson after Dieng. Gibson was a good addition in terms of quality, but the redundancy was not Dieng's fault.

Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.