Five things to know about a transformative night for the Timberwolves

The credit card is maxed out.

The Timberwolves don’t have money to spend, and after dealing away a 2031 unprotected first round pick Wednesday, they have next to nothing in terms of valuable draft capital to trade.

They could still trade players on their roster, but they generally don’t want to. What you see with the Wolves is what you might be getting for the foreseeable future.

And everyone associated with the team has to feel excited about that.

That’s my big picture takeaway after the Wolves made an aggressive move up to the No. 8 pick and selected Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham, then later grabbed Illinois scorer Terrence Shannon Jr. at No. 27.

I had some more specific thoughts on Thursday’s Daily Delivery podcast, and I’ll expand on those here:

• Moving up to get Dillingham was a much bigger swing than I imagined the Wolves might be able to take Wednesday. Starting the night with the No. 27 and No. 37 picks is not a premium position to make a bold move, but President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly found a way and showed he isn’t shying away from adding onto a roster that finished a deep playoff run just a few weeks ago.

• Speaking of Connelly, he tends to be fairly muted in his assessments of players. But you could see his exuberance and confidence after the way Wednesday unfolded.

“We challenged ourselves this offseason. How do we get more athletic? How do we have more shot creation?” Connelly said. “And to be brutally honest, we didn’t think we could achieve those things in the draft at 27. The way the night broke and the way the calls kind of developed, we were unbelievably excited to get a guy that we think is as talented as anybody in this draft.”

• The Dillingham move could cost the Wolves $28 million next year in luxury tax penalties unless there are further trims to the roster. That’s an economic reality of the new collective bargaining agreement rules. But so, too, is the fact that the Wolves have very little chance to stack their roster beyond the draft and re-signing their own free agents. So to add two potential immediate rotation pieces on Wednesday was huge.

• As Connelly said, the Dillingham trade addressed some huge needs. The Wolves need a point guard of the future with Mike Conley Jr. about to enter his age 37 season. They need more shot creation and another dynamic guard to score and take pressure off Anthony Edwards. If Dillingham is as good as they think he is, while Shannon can be a plug-and-play wing, they did a lot to address current needs.

• If the instinct is to worry about the future, there is some validity. Going back to the maxed out credit card analogy, the Wolves owe first round picks now in 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031, as well as pick swaps in 2026 and 2030. That not only prevents them from adding to their own young talent base but also will prevent them from trading any more first round picks for almost a decade.

But they also have a wealth of under-25 talent on the roster already. And if this doesn’t end up being the winning mix, there are levers to pull later that could restore draft capital.

The Wolves are set up as well for the present and future as at any other moment in franchise history.

Here are four more things to know today:

• Naila-Jean Meyers and Jeff Day from the Star Tribune also joined me on Thursday’s podcast to set up a huge four days of gymnastics Olympic trials at Target Center.

• Top pitching prospect David Festa will make his debut for the Twins on Thursday. It’s a big moment for Festa, but also for the Twins. They have struggled to develop homegrown starters in recent years.

• Injuries and a lack of depth derailed the Gophers women’s basketball season a year ago. Can they stay healthy and take a leap forward in Dawn Plitzuweit’s second year as coach?

• Star Tribune Wild writer Sarah McLellan will join me on Friday’s show to set up the NHL draft, where the Wild hold the No. 13 pick. We’ll also get into an important offseason overall for the Wild.