![Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly speaks during a press conference to introduce the team's 2022 NBA draft selections Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at Target Center in Minneapolis. ]](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/5TJRTEW45B4MW7WV6N7UJSXBU4.jpg?&w=1080)
After being a player short for much of this season, the Timberwolves after the NBA trade deadline have a roster that looks similar to the ones that were good enough to reach the Western Conference finals each of the past two years.
NBA salary rules, designed to prevent spend-happy dynasties like the one Golden State enjoyed during Steph Curry’s prime, show us just how much it took for the Wolves to get right back where they started.
I broke down and graded the Wolves’ two deadline trades — and the big one for Giannis Antetokounmpo that didn’t happen — on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
Here, at the start of today’s 10 things to know, let’s look at the various Wolves maneuvers that left them where they are now:
- In the offseason, they executed a sign-and-trade with Atlanta that helped former Wolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker ink a lucrative four-year, $62 million deal with the Hawks. In an ideal world, Minnesota would have just been able to keep him. But the Wolves couldn’t pay him that much because it would have put them in the dreaded “second apron” of the luxury tax, meaning he would have been both very expensive and would have limited the Wolves from a roster-building standpoint. They banked on Terrence Shannon Jr. and others filling NAW’s critical bench role at a cheaper price.
- But the Wolves’ young players have not stepped up this year. That has left them with a roster thin on depth, one that would have been exposed even more in the postseason. So they executed two deadline trades. The first sent out Mike Conley and a 2026 pick swap in a salary dump that saved the Wolves about $20 million. More importantly, it allowed them to make a second trade just hours before Thursday’s deadline.
- With real money and cap money cleared, they were able to take back about $1 million more in salary than they sent out in acquiring Ayo Dosunmu from the Bulls. Before the Conley trade, they wouldn’t have been able to do that. To get Dosunmu, they had to give up one of those disappointing young players (Rob Dillingham) plus the seldom-used Leonard Miller and a bunch of second-round picks. But it didn’t cost them any rotation players.
- Dosunmu is essentially a NAW replacement. He’s making just $7.5 million this season and is a free agent after the year. The Wolves could re-sign him this summer because they now hold his Bird Rights, which basically would allow them to offer Dosunmu more than other teams can.
- So as of Thursday, Feb. 5, after lots of maneuvering, the Wolves were back to something near last year’s core — minus Conley. But then word emerged Friday that Conley plans to sign with the Wolves again this year. He can only do that because he was traded a second time from the Bulls to the Hornets, who are waiving Conley. So the Wolves will have their veteran point guard back, too.
- All in all, the Wolves saved a bunch of money and strengthened this year’s team, albeit at the cost of draft capital and Dillingham, the No. 8 overall pick in 2024. They didn’t get Giannis, but maybe they laid the groundwork for a deal this summer when another complex NBA rule about draft picks will make it easier to facilitate a trade. If we’ve learned anything about Wolves boss Tim Connelly, it is these two things: He loves to make big trades and he’s adept at navigating the tricky landscape of league transactions.
- Elsewhere, the Gophers women’s basketball team scored a huge win at Iowa. Pretty soon we can shift the conversation to how high of a seed they could get in the NCAA tournament instead of just focusing on them making it.
- Chip Scoggins on a quarter-century of interactions with new Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Larry Fitzgerald Jr. is worth your time.
- Colombian soccer legend James Rodríguez is officially a member of Minnesota United, at least for a few months.
- The Washington Post sports section, the gold standard for decades, was eliminated completely this week amid massive layoffs at the paper. That is an almost unfathomable sentence to type.
![Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly speaks during a press conference to introduce the team's 2022 NBA draft selections Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at Target Center in Minneapolis. ]](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/5TJRTEW45B4MW7WV6N7UJSXBU4.jpg?&w=252&ar=3:2&fit=crop)
