Timberwolves quiet as NBA free agency opens, but they might be prepared for life without Kyle Anderson

NBA free agency opened on Sunday, but the Timberwolves, much like the rest of the league, had little activity out of the gate, as the Wolves entered Sunday night without making any signings.

The only bit of news that emerged related to the Wolves revolved around forward Kyle Anderson, with Yahoo Sports reporting that Anderson was seeking up to the full midlevel exception in contract talks, and the Wolves were preparing for life without Anderson as a result.

The Wolves have the ability to keep Anderson at any price tag they want, but doing so would add to an already-heavy luxury tax bill that was around $84 million after their draft-night trade for Rob Dillingham. The Wolves also had Monte Morris, Jordan McLaughlin and Luka Garza among their other free agents they would be looking to re-sign.

Anderson’s potential departure would create playing time on the roster for some of the Wolves’ younger players, such as Dillingham, or previous draft picks Leonard Miller and Josh Minott, or perhaps this year’s 27th pick, Terrence Shannon Jr., who at 23 is the oldest of that group of players.

The Wolves expressed a desire to bring back as many pieces from last season’s team as possible, but if Anderson can command close to the midlevel exception, it might prove too steep even as ownership has gone well into the tax to keep this core together.

“We want to retain our guys,” President Tim Connelly said last week. “That’s our goal. We want to retain our guys. Now, the market will impact that, but I’m a believer that if you have a good thing, you keep a good thing. We’d like to come back largely looking the same, maybe a little variance at the end of the roster with these new draft faces. But we really like what we have and we like what we’re building, so I think the more guys we can get to come back, the better.”

Outside of their own free agents, the Wolves are restricted to signing just minimum-level contracts for any other players thanks to their status as a second-apron team.

One name to look at for the Wolves is 36-year-old forward Joe Ingles, who has played with Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley previously in Utah.

The second apron was having a big impact on deals around the league. The Clippers released a statement citing flexibility under the CBA as one of the reasons it couldn’t find agreement with Paul George on a new contract. The Nuggets opted not to re-sign one of their starters, guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who will reportedly sign with Orlando, and was an important part of the Nuggets championship run two seasons ago.