- The Timberwolves‘ trade for Rudy Gobert showed that the team is ready to take the next step toward title contention, and the work that Anthony Edwards has been putting in this offseason shows that he’s positioning himself to make a third-year leap to stardom, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. According to Krawczynski, people who have been watching Edwards’ workouts this offseason have all been saying some variation of, “Just wait ’til you see him.”
Europe’s largest basketball tournament will tip off Thursday morning for the first time in five years. EuroBasket 2022 will feature more than 30 NBA players, including stars such as Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic and Rudy Gobert.
Twenty-four teams are involved, with four nations hosting preliminary games, leading up to the gold medal contest Sept. 18 in Berlin, Germany. The tournament used to be held every two years, but it was switched to four-year intervals beginning in 2017. It was delayed an extra year because the Olympics had to be pushed back from 2020 to 2021 due to COVID-19.
Slovenia is the defending champion, with Goran Dragic earning MVP honors in 2017. He didn’t play internationally last year, but has returned to help defend the title, according to Eurohoops.
“A challenging tournament is ahead of us, which we are all looking forward to,” Dragic said. “The championship will be one of the most even ever, as most of the national teams have their strongest possible rosters. As professional athletes, we naturally prefer to play against the best. This gives us additional momentum and presents us with a great challenge. We trained well, the team is ready and we can’t wait for the opening match against Lithuania.”
A full schedule for the event, including the opening matchup between Bulgaria and Spain, is available at ESPN.
There’s more international news to pass along:
- Nemanja Bjelica, who played for the Warriors last season, was left off Serbia’s EuroBasket roster because of an injured calf, per Eurohoops. Bjelica missed last week’s FIBA World Cup Qualifiers with the same injury, which he suffered in mid-August. Serbia, led by Jokic, is considered one of the top teams in the tournament even without Bjelica.
- A final decision on Tomas Satoransky‘s availability for the Czech team won’t be announced until Thursday, sources tell Eurohoops. A health official from the Wizards, whom Satoransky ended last season with, was in Prague to help with his recovery from ligament damage to his right ankle.
- Timberwolves assistant and former NBA guard Pablo Prigioni has been named head coach of Argentina’s national team, Eurohoops relays. “My feeling for the National Team is big, as is my commitment to this group,” Prigioni stated in a press release. “The Argentina shirt is the most important thing. We are focused, staff and players, on giving our best in the tournament that lies ahead.” His first challenge will be the AmeriCup tournament, which begins Friday in Brazil.
Alex Rodriguez is struggling to come up with his share of the money to buy the Timberwolves, according to business writer Josh Kosman of The New York Post.
Rodriguez and Marc Lore were originally supposed to be equal partners in the $1.5 billion purchase, which included a $250MM down payment made in July of 2021. However, three sources tell Kosman that Rodriguez wasn’t able to pay 50% of that cost and Lore had to cover the balance. That leaves Lore with about a 13% share of the team, while Rodriguez is at 7%.
Under the purchase agreement, the prospective owners are required to make their next 20% payment by the end of the year. Kosman’s sources said Rodriguez continues to have difficulty raising his share, and Lore may eventually become the team’s majority owner. “I wouldn’t be surprised if A-Rod becomes a subservient No. 2 to Lore,” one of the sources said.
Lore refused to confirm or deny the report, telling Kosman that he and Rodriguez still work together on all their decisions.
“I couldn’t imagine having a better partner. He is one of my best friends,” Lore said. “There is no one else I would rather be partners with than Alex.”
A source familiar with both investors said Lore teamed up with Rodriguez in a failed attempt to buy the New York Mets in 2020 because he was “completely mesmerized” by Jennifer Lopez, whom Rodriguez was engaged to at the time. The star quality of Lopez created a lot of financial opportunities for Rodriguez, but those have disappeared since their breakup last year.
“His ability to raise capital went from strong to meaningfully weaker,” one of Kosman’s sources said. “J.Lo validated him.”
Rodriguez is reportedly worth about $500MM, but sources say most of his assets aren’t liquid and can’t be easily transferred to cash that could be used to buy the Wolves. Kosman notes that NBA rules won’t allow Rodriguez to become a partial owner unless he can cover at least 15% of the total purchase price without help from co-investors. That figure would be nearly $200MM with the team’s debt factored in.
If Rodriguez and Lore make their next payment on time, they’ll have the opportunity to buy an additional 40% from current owner Glen Taylor and take over control of the team by the end of next year. But a league source tells Kosman that Taylor won’t be disappointed if the current arrangement falls through because he believes the franchise is now worth more than $2 billion and he can make more by selling it to someone else.
Kevin Durant reportedly listed Miami as one of his preferred destinations when he demanded a trade from the Nets, but the Heat didn’t make a strong effort to acquire him, Shams Charania of The Athletic said in an appearance on the Stugotz podcast.
Heat officials believed it would cost too much of their roster to trade for Durant, added Charania, who said that the last contact between the two teams regarding Durant occurred either before or during Summer League.
Charania noted that Miami reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last season and didn’t see a need for major changes. He pointed to hypothetical trades involving Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro or Adebayo, Max Strus and another player and asked whether that really gets Miami any closer to winning a title.
On top of that, any consideration of trading Adebayo would have been limited by the designated rookie extension rule, which would have prevented the Nets from having both him and Ben Simmons on their roster at the same time. A third team would have been needed to complete a deal, which made the prospects of a trade even less realistic.
Durant also was interested in joining the Suns, but Charania hears that Brooklyn didn’t want Deandre Ayton in return. Ayton became ineligible for a sign-and-trade this summer after Phoenix matched his offer sheet from the Pacers.
Charania said there were opportunities to deal Durant, but no one was willing to meet the Nets’ asking price. The Celtics wouldn’t part with Marcus Smart or Robert Williams along with Jaylen Brown, while the Raptors weren’t willing to include Scottie Barnes in trade talks. Charania said Brooklyn could have made a deal that was heavy on draft compensation with the Suns, Grizzlies or Timberwolves before they sent their assets to Utah for Rudy Gobert, but the Nets were only interested in trades that would keep them competitive.
11:35am: Police in Arlington, Texas say they found guns and a vape pen with THC oil in Prince’s car when they stopped him in May for an expired registration, according to Eric Chaloux of KSTP-TV (Twitter thread).
Possession of marijuana is illegal in Texas, and it also violates state law “to carry a gun while engaging in a criminal offense,” the police said.
8:33am: Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince was arrested on Thursday in Miami, according to several reports, including from KSTP in Minnesota and Chris Hine of The Star Tribune.
KSTP’s report indicates that Prince was booked into jail custody on Thursday evening in Miami-Dade County. According to Hine, Prince was arrested at Miami International Airport on a fugitive out-of-state warrant from Texas. The six-year NBA veteran was born in San Marcos, Texas, was raised in San Antonio, and attended Baylor for college.
Details are still sparse on the possible charges that Prince is facing. Andy Slater of Fox Sports 640 South Florida reported (via Twitter) that the Texas warrant was drug-related, but that has yet to be confirmed.
“We are aware of the alleged report regarding Taurean Prince and are in the process of gathering more information,” the Timberwolves said in a statement on Thursday.
Prince, 28, was a regular part of Minnesota’s rotation in 2021/22, averaging 7.3 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 69 games (17.1 MPG). He’s a solid, versatile defender, as well as a reliable floor spacer (.376 3PT% last season).
Prince had been on track for unrestricted free agency this summer, but the Timberwolves signed him to a two-year contract extension just before the new league year began. That deal includes a guaranteed base salary of $7.1MM for 2022/23, with $195K in likely incentives and another $870 in unlikely incentives for the coming season. The second year of the contract is non-guaranteed.
We’ll have to wait for additional information to get a real sense of how serious Prince’s legal situation is and whether it will affect his availability at all for the coming season.
- The Timberwolves have officially confirmed that Jon Wallace is their new director of player personnel and GM of the Iowa Wolves, announcing the hiring today in a press release. The Timberwolves’ deal with Wallace, who worked with Tim Connelly in Denver, was first reported earlier this month. “I have spent many years with Jon and know his basketball acumen is going to benefit the Timberwolves organization as a whole,” Connelly said in a statement.
A big reason why Kevin Durant wasn’t traded and Donovan Mitchell remains on Utah’s roster is that the Timberwolves gave up multiple rotation pieces and first-round picks for a player who’s averaged 12.4 points in his career.
The haul that the Jazz received for Rudy Gobert included Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, 2022 first-round pick Walker Kessler, and four future first-rounders. All but one of those picks are unprotected.
Of course, Minnesota didn’t acquire Gobert for his offensive skills. Minnesota led the NBA last season with a 115.9 point average but ranked 24th in points allowed (113.3) and 16th in defensive field goal percentage (46.0%).
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year will provide an imposing presence it has lacked at that end of the floor. Gobert is also a prolific rebounder — he led the league in that category last season — and one of the NBA’s top shot-blockers.
By surrendering so many assets, Minnesota essentially took an “all-in” approach, viewing Gobert as the missing piece to a title contender. The Timberwolves now have their own Big Three in Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards and Gobert.
Towns is one of the league’s most prolific scorers, as he displayed in his 60-point game in March. He has finished as a top-20 scorer in five of his seven NBA seasons.
There were doubts about Edwards when he was chosen with the first overall pick in 2020 but he has been an offensive force since the second half of his rookie campaign. Edwards averaged 21.3 PPG in his second season and was even more dangerous in six playoff games (25.2 PPG).
The starting lineup is rounded out by point guard D’Angelo Russell and Jaden McDaniels. Russell has been a trade candidate after some poor playoff performances (33.3% shooting, 12 PPG) but he’s averaged nearly 18 points in his career. Last season, he also averaged a career high in assists (7.1 APG) with low turnover numbers (2.5 per game).
Minnesota insisted on keeping McDaniels in trade talks with Utah. A late 2020 pick, McDaniels is viewed by the franchise as one of the top young defensive wings in the league.
The trade sapped the Timberwolves’ depth and they tried to fortify it by using a chunk of their mid-level exception on forward Kyle Anderson. They also added sharpshooter Bryn Forbes and veteran guard Austin Rivers on one-year deals. They still have Jordan McLaughlin to back up Russell and Naz Reid as the primary reserve big man.
The Timberwolves led the league in 3-pointers made (14.8 per game) last season, though percentage-wise they’re just average in that category. Towns is the only member of the lineup who’s an above-average shooter from deep.
Another concern, especially in the postseason, is whether they can keep Towns and Gobert on the floor at the same time when opponents go with small-ball units.
That brings us to our question of the day: Did the acquisition of Gobert make the Timberwolves a serious contender for the NBA championship? If not, what else do they need to reach that level?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
- Luka Garza‘s contract with the Timberwolves is an Exhibit 10 deal, Darren Wolfson of KSTP tweets. Minnesota officially signed the second-year big man on Tuesday. He’ll compete for a roster spot but could become an affiliate player for the Iowa Wolves, Minnesota’s G League team. He’ll be eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he is waived and then spends at least 60 days with Iowa.
The Nets wanted a better haul than the Jazz received from the Timberwolves for Rudy Gobert.
The Timberwolves have officially signed free agent forward/center Luka Garza, the team announced today in a press release. The Wolves also confirmed the previously reported signing of CJ Elleby, which was made official a couple weeks ago.
Garza, 23, was selected by the Pistons with the 52nd overall pick in the 2021 draft and spent his rookie season in Detroit, averaging 5.8 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 32 games (12.2 MPG). He was a standout for the Motor City Cruise, Detroit’s G League affiliate, putting up 20.6 PPG and 9.5 RPG in 16 games (29.8 MPG) and earning a spot on the All-NBAGL Third Team.
Garza’s contract with the Pistons was for two years, but the 2022/23 season was a team option, which Detroit declined, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The former Iowa star is now on track to attend training camp with Minnesota, though it’s unclear if there will be any room for him on the club’s 15-man roster. The Timberwolves currently have 12 players on guaranteed contracts, with Austin Rivers, Jaylen Nowell, and Nathan Knight seemingly the frontrunners to fill out the regular season squad.
If Garza doesn’t make the Timberwolves’ 15-man roster or end up on a two-way deal, he could become an affiliate player for the Iowa Wolves, Minnesota’s G League team. Terms of his contract aren’t known, but if it includes Exhibit 10 language, he’d be eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with Iowa.
Counting their two-way players, the Timberwolves now have 19 players under contract.
The first EuroBasket tournament in five years will tip off in two weeks and there are currently 34 NBA players on track to participate in the event, representing 17 different countries, according to Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net.
EuroBasket is a 24-team international basketball competition also known as the European Basketball Championship. It historically took place every two years, but that gap was recently adjusted to four years, emulating the FIBA World Cup schedule.
The last EuroBasket tournament was played in 2017 — the next one had been scheduled for 2021, but was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. As a result, after being played every two years since 1947, it has now been five years since the last EuroBasket tournament, easily the longest layoff since World War II.
It’s possible that some NBA players will be cut from their teams’ rosters or will have to drop out due to injuries or personal reasons before the event begins on September 1, but in general enthusiasm to participate in the long-awaited event appears high.
Here’s the list of NBAers currently set to play in EuroBasket, per Eurohoops:
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Jusuf Nurkic (Trail Blazers)
- Croatia
- Bojan Bogdanovic (Jazz)
- Dario Saric (Suns)
- Ivica Zubac (Clippers)
- Czech Republic
- Vit Krejci (Thunder)
- Finland
- Lauri Markkanen (Cavaliers)
- France
- Evan Fournier (Knicks)
- Rudy Gobert (Timberwolves)
- Theo Maledon (Thunder)
- Georgia
- Goga Bitadze (Pacers)
- Sandro Mamukelashvili (Bucks)
- Germany
- Daniel Theis (Pacers)
- Franz Wagner (Magic)
- Greece
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
- Tyler Dorsey (Mavericks)
- Israel
- Deni Avdija (Wizards)
- Italy
- Simone Fontecchio (Jazz)
- Danilo Gallinari (Celtics)
- Lithuania
- Domantas Sabonis (Kings)
- Jonas Valanciunas (Pelicans)
- Montenegro
- Marko Simonovic (Bulls)
- Serbia
- Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)
- Slovenia
- Vlatko Cancar (Nuggets)
- Luka Doncic (Mavericks)
- Goran Dragic (Bulls)
- Spain
- Usman Garuba (Rockets)
- Juancho Hernangomez (Raptors)
- Willy Hernangomez (Pelicans)
- Turkey
- Furkan Korkmaz (Sixers)
- Cedi Osman (Cavaliers)
- Alperen Sengun (Rockets)
- Ukraine
- Alex Len (Kings)
- Svi Mykhailiuk (Raptors)
There are also multiple NBA free agents on EuroBasket rosters, including French swingman Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and German guard Dennis Schröder.
A number of young NBA players, such as 2022 draftees Jeremy Sochan and Nikola Jovic, have dropped out to focus on getting ready for the 2022/23 season, while others, including Bogdan Bogdanovic (Serbia) and Frank Ntilikina (France), were ruled out due to injuries.
Round robin play will begin on September 1, with each team facing the other five clubs in its group once. The top four teams in each group will advance to a 16-team bracket that begins on September 10. The final will take place on September 18, just over a week before NBA training camps get underway.