- Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic identifies five challenges facing the Timberwolves as their offseason begins, including filling out Chris Finch‘s staff, addressing a hole in the frontcourt, and determining Malik Beasley‘s role going forward.
- The Timberwolves have a solid starting five, regardless of how the draft lottery shakes out, Jim Souhan of the Minnesota Star Tribune writes. They also have some good young pieces on the bench and therefore they don’t need saviors, just more experience and growth, Souhan adds.
Teams around the NBA are constantly monitoring superstars on lottery teams in case they become disgruntled and request a change of scenery. One player whose situation has drawn some attention in that regard is Karl-Anthony Towns, whose Timberwolves have made the postseason just once since he was drafted in 2015.
However, speaking to reporters this week, Towns said that he’d like to follow in the footsteps of players like Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan, who spent their entire NBA careers with a single franchise.
“I hope to have a career like Kobe, with one team,” Towns said, per Shahbaz Khan of of Timberwolves.com. “Like Tim and Kobe, where it’s one team and try to bring as many championships as possible.”
Towns, who averaged 24.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in 50 contests (33.8 MPG) in 2020/21, acknowledged that there have been plenty of “rocky” patches during his six years in Minnesota, both on and off the court. However, he gave no indication that he’d like to move on from the team that selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft.
“I just really am happy that I’m able to still be here playing for this amazing city and state and be able to stay here and affect change in the community,” Towns said. “I’m just so happy that I’ve been given a chance to play here in Minnesota all these years.”
Towns still has three guaranteed years on his maximum-salary deal beyond 2020/21. As such, president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas still has some time to work on building a team capable of contending before the 25-year-old has to make a decision on his next contract. However, with the Wolves set to lose their first-round pick either in 2021 (top-three protected) or 2022 (unprotected), Rosas will have to get creative as he considers possible avenues to upgrade the roster.
During a TNT broadcast ahead of tonight’s Wizards-Pacers play-in matchup, the finalists for six big end-of-season 2020/21 awards were announced. Here is the full list, as voted on by reporters.
NBA Most Valuable Player:
- Stephen Curry (Warriors)
- Joel Embiid (Sixers)
- Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)
NBA Defensive Player of the Year:
- Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
- Draymond Green (Warriors)
- Ben Simmons (Sixers)
NBA Rookie of the Year:
- LaMelo Ball (Hornets)
- Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves)
- Tyrese Haliburton (Kings)
NBA Most Improved Player:
- Jerami Grant (Pistons)
- Michael Porter Jr. (Nuggets)
- Julius Randle (Knicks)
NBA Sixth Man of the Year:
- Jordan Clarkson (Jazz)
- Joe Ingles (Jazz)
- Derrick Rose (Knicks)
NBA Coach of the Year:
- Quin Snyder (Jazz)
- Tom Thibodeau (Knicks)
- Monty Williams (Suns)
Some of these current contenders are familiar with the hardware they’re up for again. Curry is a two-time MVP, having won the award previously in 2015 and 2016. Gobert and Green have both previously won Defensive Player of the Year awards — Green in 2017 and Gobert in 2018 and 2019. Thibodeau was voted Coach of the Year a decade ago while with the Bulls.
The winners for the awards will be announced during the 2020/21 NBA playoffs.
Timberwolves associate head coach David Vanterpool as well as assistant Bryan Gates won’t return to Chris Finch’s staff next season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. Vanterpool and Gates were holdovers from Ryan Saunders‘ staff. Numerous players around the league openly questioned Minnesota’s decision to hire Finch away from the Raptors’ staff, instead of promoting minority candidate Vanterpool when Saunders was let go.
We have more on the Timberwolves:
- Anthony Edwards could be “scary” good after a strong rookie season, president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas said this week, per Dave Campbell of The Associated Press. “He doesn’t know how good he is and, scary enough for us, we don’t know how good he is,” Rosas said. “You’re talking about a 19-year-old who’s late to the sport. It’s not always pretty, not always efficient, but the signs of greatness are there.”
- Edwards expects the team to participate in the postseason next year, Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes. “I’m ready to go to the playoffs,” he said. “I know this is my first year, but I just see how happy teams [are], knowing they’re going to play more basketball. So I want that feeling next year.”
- Karl-Anthony Towns wants to make a point that he’s not concerned about sharing the spotlight with Edwards, according to Chris Hine of the Star Tribune. “He’s showed exactly why he’s the No. 1 pick and why he’s the Rookie of the Year,” Towns said. “So we’ve got to put our egos to the side at all times. We cannot let that get between us. We cannot let that be a story of amazing talents coming together and not making it work.”
- The Wolves’ front office made a prudent choice with Jaden McDaniels at the No. 28 overall pick, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic notes. McDaniels started regularly in the final 27 games of the season and showed great promise as a 3-and-D wing. Having productive players on low-cost contracts is necessary to keep the team’s core intact while still avoiding the luxury tax, Krawczynski adds.
The news broke on Monday that Luke Walton would be retained as the Kings’ head coach. There has been speculation that the decision was, at least in part, financially motivated. He’s reportedly owed $11.5MM over the next two seasons.
However, GM Monte McNair downplayed that notion in his season-ending press conference, James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. “I’ve been given every resource I need to get the team back to the playoffs and this was a basketball decision,” McNair said.
We have more on the Kings:
- Walton’s job became much safer when the Timberwolves hired Raptors assistant Chris Finch as their head coach midway through the season, Sean Cunningham of KXTV Sacramento tweets. Numerous sources told Cunningham that Sacramento’s front office was interested in Finch, who previously worked with McNair in the Rockets’ organization. Walton maintained a strong relationship with the Kings’ front office and earned respect of the locker room, which also helped his cause, Cunningham adds.
- De’Aaron Fox‘s bout with COVID-19 was a rough one, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee tweets. Fox had a headache after the April 21st game against Minnesota and then body aches and chills the next night. He apparently wasn’t close to returning at the end of the season, but he says he’s feeling much better, Anderson adds.
- Richaun Holmes is expected to be a hot commodity on the free agent market. Get the details here.
- Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns told reporters today that he won’t require offseason surgery on the wrist he dislocated at the start of the season, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
- In a story for The Athletic, Krawczynski takes a deep dive into the long, winding path that Jarred Vanderbilt took to become an NBA regular for the first time this season. The Timberwolves forward, who had logged 120 total minutes in two NBA seasons entering 2020/21, started 30 of the 64 games he played this year, averaging 5.4 PPG and 5.8 RPG on 60.6% shooting in 17.8 minutes per contest.
- Timberwolves team president Gersson Rosas is confident that he is building a long-term winner in Minnesota, writes Chris Hine of the Star Tribune. “We’ve had what we’ve had the last two years for whatever reasons there are,” Rosas said. “Things we can control, things we can’t control, and our record is what it is and that’s who we are. We really feel confident about the core, the roster we have in place. … Even though it’s a small sample size, when our top guys are on the floor, we’re a winning team and that’s our belief.” The Timberwolves are currently 22-49, tied with the Cavaliers for the league’s fifth worst record. The team’s 2021 draft pick will be sent to the Warriors unless it moves into the top three during the draft lottery.
The Timberwolves have issued a statement confirming that the team will be sold to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
“Glen Taylor has reached an agreement with Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez regarding the sale and future ownership of the Wolves and (WNBA) Lynx,” the statement reads. “The transaction will close following league approval beginning the transition of ownership and a new chapter.”
The sale price will be $1.5 billion, and operating control will transfer to Lore and Rodriguez in the 2023/24 season, Windhorst adds (via Twitter). Also included in the sale are the team’s G League affiliate (the Iowa Wolves) and eSports franchise (T-Wolves Gaming).
News of the formal agreement broke Thursday, with a report that a deal was in place after several weeks of negotiating. Lore and Rodriguez went past their 30-day exclusive window, but it turned out to be necessary for all the details to be finalized.
Since negotiations began, the plan has been for Lore and Rodriguez to serve as limited partners for two years while Taylor retains majority control. That will give them an opportunity to become fully immersed in the operations of an NBA franchise before taking it over completely.
Taylor, who recently turned 80, has put the team on the market several times over the years, but hadn’t been able to find the right offer. He has been insistent that any new owners keep the team in Minnesota.
Former MLB star Alex Rodriguez and tech entrepreneur Marc Lore have an agreement in place to buy the Timberwolves from current owner Glen Taylor, a source tells A.J. Perez and Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.
As previously reported, the valuation of the franchise in the sale is $1.5 billion, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania (Twitter link), Rodriguez and Lore, who are expected to formally sign the paperwork shortly, will be equal partners in the purchase.
The deal, which includes the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, won’t be official until it receives approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors, as Perez and McCarthy note. However, there’s no indication that won’t be a formality now that Rodriguez and Lore have reached an agreement with Taylor.
Rodriguez and Lore appeared close to finalizing a deal to buy the Wolves from Taylor back on April 10, when the two sides entered into a 30-day exclusive negotiating window to hammer out the specific details. That 30-day window ended earlier this week, but the parties continued to negotiate in good faith, with Lore expressing that he believed the talks were “close to the finish line.” It seems he was right.
We’ll have to wait for confirmation on the terms of the agreement, but the plan all along has been for Taylor to retain majority control of the franchise for the time being, with Rodriguez and Lore initially serving as limited partners. The new owners would take the reins by the 2023/24 season. The Nets took a similar approach to their most recent sale, with Joe Tsai purchasing a partial stake in the franchise from Mikhail Prokhorov before eventually assuming majority control.
Taylor, who bought the team for $88MM in 1994, has placed it on the market several times over the years, but hadn’t found an offer he was willing to accept until now. The 80-year-old was insistent on keeping the Wolves in Minnesota and wanted to find purchasers who would agree to become short-term partners so he could mentor them before they fully took over.
Rodriguez was a 14-time All-Star as an MLB player, winning three MVP awards in 2003, 2005, and 2007, along with a title in 2009. Since retiring from baseball in 2016, A-Rod has become an entrepreneur and media star. His investments include fitness gyms, coconut water, e-sports, Fanatics, and a digital delivery service called goPuff.
Lore began his fortune with Quidsi, which sold to Amazon for $545MM in 2011, and later founded Jet.com, which Walmart bought for $3.3 billion in 2016. He served as Walmart’s eCommerce chief from 2016-21 before stepping down from that position earlier this year.
Arthur Hill contributed to this story. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.