With Naz Reid signed, Timberwolves will need more (cheap and good) players like him

Upon returning from a weeklong trip to South Dakota with my wife and three young children, I had to catch up on the news.

Conveniently, one of the biggest Minnesota sports stories of the past week happens to be fresh: Naz Reid agreed to a three-year, $42 million contract Sunday to stay with the Wolves.

And as it turns out, I couldn't have avoided the news if I tried.

A missive from a group text with friends: "Stay strong, Rand. I know you want to do 30 straight minutes on the Wolves draft and the Naz Reid signing."

An email from reader Thomas: "Good Morning! Excited for you to have new Wolves news so soon in the off-season."

And even a comment on the above linked Star Tribune story: "Well, now Michael Rand will have something to write/talk about for the next two weeks."

Am I that predictable?!

As it turns out, I didn't spend all of Monday's Daily Delivery podcast with Patrick Reusse talking about Reid's deal. But we did start with it.

And yes, I do feel the need to write about it a little more here.

Now that the Wolves have signed Reid for an annual value of $14 million (the third year is a player option), it's a good reminder that going forward they will need a lot more players just like him — and that they have not, at least so far, maximized a window in which they had a lot of quality rotation players on below market deals.

Last season, for instance, Reid, Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards combined to make a little less than $15 million. By the 2024-25 season, we might expect those three to account for about $65 million in cap space. Karl-Anthony Towns ($52.3 million) and Rudy Gobert ($43.8 million) will gobble up another $96 million in cap space.

So you can see what's coming: The Wolves either need to shed some salary, perhaps in the form of a Towns trade ... or they need to be convinced that their core is worth investing in, perhaps beyond the luxury tax.

Either way, in order to fill out a competitive roster they will absolutely need inexpensive young players to produce in much the same way that Reid has done in four years with the Wolves.

They have candidates: Two-way forward Luka Garza showed some promise last season. Last year's draft picks, Josh Minott and Wendell Moore, could be ready for more minutes. This year's second-round picks, Leonard Miller and Jaylen Clark, could contribute in years to come.

But there are no guarantees any of them will make themselves into the kind of player Reid has become.

Here are four more things to know today:

*Among position players, the Twins' two top performers in terms of Wins Above Replacement (WAR) are Willi Castro (1.7) and Ryan Jeffers (1.3). That's a polite way of saying their stars have not produced this year.

*Also, this is an interesting quote from rising young Twins player Royce Lewis, who has gone 12 for his last 26 and is now batting .333:

"I looked at where some of our plans were going and how the pitchers were pitching us, and they weren't attacking us with our plan of getting a mistake. I was like, 'Why don't I just start being aggressive, putting the ball in play. I know I can at least touch it and go to right field.'"

*Pass-catches and running backs should be a strength for the Vikings this season. An analysis of all 32 NFL teams agrees with that.

*This is from a few days ago, but the Utah Jazz are trying something very new — but also very old — with their TV deal next season.