Tim Connelly Expected To Extend With Timberwolves

[RealGM Wiretap]

Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly has an opt-out for next season. However, most around the NBA expect Connelly to extend his run with Minnesota with a new deal.

Now that Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez are set to become the owners of the Timberwolves, the expectation is that they'll turn to keeping Connelly in charge of basketball operations. Minnesota could see competition for Connelly from the Atlanta Hawks or his former team, the Denver Nuggets.

Connelly took over the Wolves front office in late May of 2022. He's made several major trades, including acquiring Rudy Gobert in 2022. Connelly also traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks ahead of this season.

Via Marc Stein and Jake Fischer/The Stein Line

[CaHgO]

I would move on if I was him. Wolves are already the 2nd highest spender in the NBA (only Phoenix are ahead of them); don't have much in terms of draft assets until 2030; and they have several key players coming up for renewals/extensions - Walker, Reid, Gobert, Conley, Randle - all of which will demand higher salaries (except for Conley I guess). If they don't win it this year, they have very little (if any) room for improvement. The only other option is a major revamp by immediately trading several of their key contributors while they can get back something in return and completely retooling around Ant - which is not a recipe for success in the short term. In other words they reached their peak with this squad and they are bound to regress for at least a couple of years until a new core is established around Edwards. However, since they will be a non-factor in the meantime, it's highly probably Ant will ask out and they may have to do a full-blown rebuild.

In summary - it would be best for Connelly to pack his bags while his value is at an all-time high and there is plenty of demand from fairly decent organizations.

[TimeisIllmatic]

I would move on if I was him. Wolves are already the 2nd highest spender in the NBA (only Phoenix are ahead of them); don't have much in terms of draft assets until 2030; and they have several key players coming up for renewals/extensions - Walker, Reid, Gobert, Conley, Randle - all of which will demand higher salaries (except for Conley I guess). If they don't win it this year, they have very little (if any) room for improvement. The only other option is a major revamp by immediately trading several of their key contributors while they can get back something in return and completely retooling around Ant - which is not a recipe for success in the short term. In other words they reached their peak with this squad and they are bound to regress for at least a couple of years until a new core is established around Edwards. However, since they will be a non-factor in the meantime, it's highly probably Ant will ask out and they may have to do a full-blown rebuild.

In summary - it would be best for Connelly to pack his bags while his value is at an all-time high and there is plenty of demand from fairly decent organizations.

You're definitely right from an asset management perspective but he probably doesn't want to uproot his family and move especially if there's a sense there is a level of "job security" in Minnesota with the ownership finally beginning to stabilize.

I think one way to change his mind would have to be a record amount of money thrown at him to leave a good situation like Minnesota. From the reports coming out, Atlanta seems supremely desperate for a reputable executive of the caliber of Connelly.

[Phantom1974]

They should be better than they are currently. He had to trade KAT because of salary, Gobert is feast of famine, way overrated and paid - plus gave up so much for him.
They've kind of gone backwards to OKC, building a team then getting the superstar to lead them. OKC built around SGA, kept picks and drafted wisely and paid correct market value for free agents.
Ant is going to want out to a bigger market especially if they lose players due to cap and sit around the middle of the pack.