Beyond simply getting rid of Julius Randle, who proved to be a poor fit with the Minnesota Timberwolves, opening up the non-taxpayer mid-level exception was a big advantage to salary-dumping Randle. With a Rudy Gobert trade seemingly unlikely, Wolves fans need to accept that the most likely path to upgrading the roster is via free agency.
Unfortunately, president of basketball operations, Tim Connelly, said that the Timberwolves' free agency plans will be cost-dependent.
"Like anything else, so much is going to be cost-dependent," Connelly said. "We don't have an endless amount of resources to add, but we do have flexibility... You look at the roster as we enter free agency, we have certain big holes and how we address them. Much like the draft, we are oftentimes best player available and the market is going to dictate what we can and can not do."
If the Timberwolves don't use their cap space to upgrade their roster, they could be in trouble
To put it simply, nobody wants to hear this message. Randle is a flawed player and the Wolves had to trade him. But he's not a useless one and the Wolves opted to trade him in a pure salary-dump. Okay, that's fine, but you better utilize this cap space.
Even after re-signing Ayo Dosunmu to a five-year, $112 million deal, the Wolves have some money to play with. If they aren't going to upgrade the roster on the trade market, they better ensure they do so in free agency and Connelly's comments don't offer the promise fans want to hear.
Maybe Connelly simply means that they can't sign a top-tier free agent and will have to settle for someone on the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. Regardless, Connelly immediately pointing to cost when discussing free agency is a concern at the very least.
Dosunmu is an awesome connective guard. However, the Wolves certainly need another perimeter player capable of providing both shot creation and playmaking. As it stands, Collin Sexton, Coby White and Anfernee Simons are three realistic targets on the NTMLE.
The Wolves would be opting to make up for their lack of a second option in the aggregate by adding one of these guards. Again, though, signing one of them would likely need to happen with them using the NTMLE.
Frankly, if the Wolves don't land one of these three guards, there's a steep drop-off. To this end, the Wolves need to utilizetheir cap space or else their roster will be in a much worse spot than it was last year.
Listen, I'm fine with the Wolves not trading for a true star. They still have a solid roster around Anthony Edwards and I believe both Jaden McDaniels and Dosunmu can level up. All the same, they need another guard and signing one to the NTMLE appears to be the best path to landing one.
Again, maybe I'm overthinking things and Connelly simply means they can't sign a top-tier free agent. Still, it's hard to argue that his comments aren't cause for pause.
The bottom line is that while being financially responsible is vital, when you have a player as talented as Edwards is and that player is entering his true prime, you must improve the roster around him.
This should absolutely mean using the cap space you have to upgrade your glaring roster flaws.
