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Timberwolves Waive Nate Santos

September 26th, 2025 at 9:50pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Timberwolves have waived forward Nate Santos, according to the NBA.com’s transaction log.

Santos signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the team two days ago. The 6’7″ forward played with the Magic during Summer League after going undrafted in June. He averaged 1.3 points and 1.5 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per game over the course of four outings.

Santos previously played two seasons at Dayton after starting his career at Pittsburgh. In his senior year, he averaged 14.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while knocking down 41.8% of his attempts from beyond the arc.

Santos will now be eligible to receive a bonus up to $83,500 if he spends at least 60 days with the Timberwolves’ G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves.

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CJ Fulton Waived By Timberwolves

September 24th, 2025 at 7:36pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Point guard CJ Fulton has been waived by the Timberwolves, according to the NBA’s player transaction log. The team had just announced its Exhibit 10 deal with Fulton earlier in the day.

As Keith Smith of Spotrac tweets, signing-and-waiving Fulton was the plan all along, as it will line him up to join Minnesota’s G League club, the Iowa Wolves. Should Fulton stick with Iowa for at least 60 days, he’ll be eligible to earn a bonus worth as much as $85,300.

Fulton signed with the Timberwolves after going undrafted out of Charleston this past summer. The Belfast-born guard averaged 7.8 PPG, 6.5 APG and 4.1 RPG during his 2024/25 senior NCAA season, then latched on with Minnesota’s Summer League team.

With Fulton waived, Minnesota has 19 players under contract heading into training camp next week, leaving two openings on its 21-man roster.

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Nate Santos Signs With Timberwolves

September 24th, 2025 at 1:32pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Timberwolves have signed free agent forward Nate Santos, the team announced in a press release.

Santos earned second-team All-Atlantic 10 honors last season at Dayton, averaging 14.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 34 games while shooting 44% from the field and 41.8% from three-point range. He transferred to Dayton in 2023 after playing his first two collegiate seasons at Pittsburgh.

After going undrafted in June, Santos joined the Magic for Summer League. He appeared in four games in Las Vegas with a total of five points, six rebounds and three steals.

Santos likely received an Exhibit 10 contract that will make him eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 if he gets waived and spends at least 60 days with Minnesota’s G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves.

Santos was one of 44 players invited to participate in the G League Elite Camp in May.

The team’s press release also confirms the signing of guard CJ Fulton, bringing the Timberwolves to 20 players on their preseason roster.

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Timberwolves Add CJ Fulton On Exhibit 10 Deal

September 24th, 2025 at 8:30am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Timberwolves have signed guard CJ Fulton to an Exhibit 10 contract, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith tweets.

A native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Fulton played four seasons of college ball in the U.S. He had a two-year stint with Lafayette, then spent two seasons at Charleston.

As a senior, Fulton averaged 7.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 6.5 assists. In 127 career NCAA games, the 6’2″ guard shot 42.7 percent from the field and 37.1 percent on three-point attempts. He also appeared in two games with the Timberwolves’ Summer League squad.

The addition of Fulton increases Minnesota’s camp count to 19, two shy of the limit.

Fulton will likely end up with the Iowa Wolves, the Timberwolves’ G League affiliate. If he’s waived and spends at least 60 days with the Iowa club, he’d earn a bonus up to $85,300.

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And-Ones: ESPN Survey, S. Cash, Bargain FAs, More

September 23rd, 2025 at 9:56am CST by Luke Adams

A panel of 20 coaches, executives, and scouts around the NBA polled by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps overwhelmingly picked Nuggets center Nikola Jokic as the current best player in the NBA, with Jokic receiving 19 votes while Lakers guard Luka Doncic earned the last one.

However, the predictions for 2025/26 MVP were more divided — Jokic leads the way with seven votes, but Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (five), Doncic (four), and Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama (two) each received multiple votes, while Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards each got one too.

The panel polled by Bontemps also predicted who will be the NBA’s best player in 2030 (Wembanyama received 16 votes), who will win Rookie of the Year in 2025/26 (Cooper Flagg earned 19 votes), and where LeBron James will be when the 2026/27 season begins — seven respondents expect him to still be a Laker, while five said he’ll be retired and eight believe he’ll be with a new team.

Those coaches, executives, and scouts also believe the Hawks (seven votes) had the best offseason of the NBA’s 30 teams, while the Pelicans (nine votes) had the worst summer. And they nearly unanimously picked the Thunder to repeat as champions. Just two respondents chose the Nuggets to win the 2026 title, while the other 18 stuck with Oklahoma City.

Here are more odds and ends from around the NBA:

  • After being let go by the Pelicans in April, former WNBA star and veteran NBA executive Swin Cash is joining Amazon Prime Video for the 2025/26 season, according to Richard Deitsch of The Athletic. Cash will have the role of “front office insider” on Prime Video’s NBA studio show, then will become a studio analyst for Amazon’s WNBA coverage.
  • Thomas Bryant, Precious Achiuwa, Alec Burks, and Delon Wright are among the unsigned players identified by Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report as bargain free agents who are capable of helping any NBA team.
  • John Hollinger of The Athletic views the Thunder (62.5 wins), Clippers (48.5), Warriors (45.5), Bulls (32.5), and Jazz (18.5) as the five teams who are the best bets to exceed the over/under win projections set by oddsmakers for the 2025/26 season.
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2025/26 NBA Over/Unders: Northwest Division

September 22nd, 2025 at 10:23am CST by Luke Adams

With the 2025/26 NBA regular season tipping off next month, we’re getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign and continuing an annual Hoops Rumors tradition.

With the help of the lines from a series of sports betting sites – including BetMGM and BetOnline – we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.

In 2024/25, our voters went 13-17 on their over/under picks. Can we top that in ’25/26?

We’ll continue our series today with the Northwest Division…

Oklahoma City Thunder

  • 2024/25 record: 68-14
  • Over/under for 2025/26: 62.5 wins
  • Major offseason moves:

Denver Nuggets

Minnesota Timberwolves

Portland Trail Blazers

Utah Jazz

Previous voting results:

Atlantic

  • New York Knicks (53.5 wins): Over (63.2%)
  • Boston Celtics (42.5 wins): Over (52.7%)
  • Philadelphia 76ers (42.5 wins): Under (58.7%)
  • Toronto Raptors (37.5 wins): Over (50.2%)
  • Brooklyn Nets (20.5 wins): Over (54.4%)
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Timberwolves Sign, Waive Nojel Eastern

September 18th, 2025 at 6:37pm CST by Luke Adams

September 18: The Timberwolves have now waived Eastern, per the NBA’s transaction log.

September 17: The Timberwolves have signed free agent guard Nojel Eastern, the team announced today in a press release. Details of the agreement weren’t revealed, but it’s almost certainly a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract.

Eastern, a former Purdue standout, has spent the past two seasons playing for the Iowa Wolves, Minnesota’s G League affiliate. In 29 games in 2024/25, he averaged 12.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.4 steals in 30.0 minutes per contest, with a strong shooting line of .514/.419/.744.

Eastern, who earned Big Ten All-Defensive honors in 2019 and 2020, appears likely to continue his career within the Timberwolves’ organization after suiting up for the team at the Las Vegas Summer League team in July.

An Exhibit 10 deal will put him in line to earn a bonus worth up to $85,300 on top of his base G League salary if he’s waived by Minnesota and then spends at least 60 days with the Iowa Wolves this season.

The Timberwolves now have 19 players under contract, including 13 on guaranteed deals, Bones Hyland on a partially guaranteed contract, three players on two-way pacts, and Johnny Juzang and Eastern on non-guaranteed deals.

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Western Notes: Thunder, Biyombo, Hyland, Wolves, M. Williams

September 17th, 2025 at 1:19pm CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder showed last season that veteran know-how isn’t necessarily a requirement to win an NBA championship — with an average of 25.6 years, Oklahoma City became the second-youngest champion in league history, according to Curtis Rowser III of Slam, who spoke to 24-year-old star Jalen Williams about that subject within the magazine’s latest cover story.

“I don’t think you need a bunch of veterans to be successful,” Williams said. “I think they’re definitely useful. But…I learned how to be a professional before I even signed paperwork to be on the Thunder. You go in there, and every single basketball on the ball rack is facing the exact same way; we tuck our shirts in for practice; we’re not wearing jewelry for practice.

“That stuff was ingrained in me since I’ve been in the organization. So we haven’t had to have vets teach us how to do things. We matured faster, because that’s the environment that we’ve been in.”

We have more from around the Western Conference:

  • Bismack Biyombo and Bones Hyland each waived the right to veto a trade as part of their deals with the Spurs and Timberwolves, respectively, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract typically receives an implicit no-trade clause, but the club can ask that player to waive that clause in advance — many have done so, as our tracker shows. Biyombo is on a fully non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract with San Antonio, while Hyland got a $425K partial guarantee on his one-year deal with Minnesota.
  • New Timberwolves CEO Matthew Caldwell spoke to Chris Hine of The Minnesota Star Tribune about why he accepted the job after nine years with the NHL’s Florida Panthers and his plans for the organization, including a possible new arena. Caldwell cautioned that even if an arena plan comes together quickly, it will take a few years to come to fruition, but added that it’s “a huge priority for us.”
  • What might a rookie scale extension for new Suns center Mark Williams look like? Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic explores that question, relaying comments made by Sam Vecenie of The Athletic, who suggested that the former Hornet has been “quite poor” defensively in his first three NBA seasons. “He’s not as good as the length would make you believe on defense and his mobility has not been strong enough in ball screens and he consistently gets beat, but he’s massive. He’s a great lob threat,” said Vecenie, adding that a deal in the range of $20MM per year with some injury protections could make sense for Williams and the Suns.
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Wolves Re-Sign Tristen Newton To Two-Way Contract

September 16th, 2025 at 12:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

September 16: A month-and-a-half after their deal was first reported, the Timberwolves have officially re-signed Newton to a two-way deal, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

August 1: Restricted free agent guard Tristen Newton is signing his two-way qualifying offer from the Timberwolves, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter).

Newton, who was the 49th pick in the 2024 draft, split time between the Pacers and Wolves last season, playing five games in Indiana and three in Minnesota.

He spent the majority of his season in the G League, where he averaged 16.6 points, 6.6 assists, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game in 20 outings for the Iowa Wolves. In five Summer League appearances this offseason, Newton averaged 9.2 points, 3.8 assists, and 2.0 steals while shooting 47.6% from three.

The Wolves signed Enrique Freeman to a two-way deal earlier today, and already have 2025 second-round pick Rocco Zikarsky and second-year center Jesse Edwards occupying two-way slots, meaning someone will have to be waived to accommodate Newton’s return.

The expectation is that Edwards will be waived following the addition of Freeman and rookie big men Zikarsky and first-round pick Joan Beringer.

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Timberwolves Re-Sign Bones Hyland

September 16th, 2025 at 6:23am CST by Luke Adams

September 16: Hyland signed a one-year contract that includes a partial guarantee of $425K, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

September 15: The Timberwolves have re-signed free agent guard Bones Hyland, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

Hyland, who turned 25 on Sunday, finished last season on a two-way contract with the Timberwolves after being waived by Atlanta. The 6’2″ combo guard made just four NBA appearances for Minnesota after seeing action in 20 games for the Clippers earlier in the season. In total, he averaged 6.2 points and 1.3 assists in 10.0 minutes per contest on .398/.390/.885 shooting for the two teams in 2024/25.

Despite Hyland’s limited role last season, multiple reports in August indicated that the Timberwolves maintained interest in re-signing him. Minnesota’s president of basketball operations Tim Connelly has long been a fan of the former VCU standout, having used the 26th overall pick in 2021 to draft him back when Connelly was running the Nuggets’ front office.

Hyland showed some intriguing potential as a scorer and shooter during a season-and-a-half in Denver (10.9 PPG, .371 3PT%). However, the Nuggets – said to be concerned about Hyland’s defensive lapses and his displeasure with his role – sent him to the Clippers at the 2023 deadline after Calvin Booth had replaced Connelly as the Nuggets’ top decision-maker.

Hyland never really found his footing in Los Angeles, appearing in just 71 games over the last two years and averaging 7.8 PPG on .392/.349/.812 shooting during that time. He was traded to Atlanta in February as part of the Terance Mann/Bogdan Bogdanovic swap and was quickly waived by the Hawks, clearing a path for a reunion with Connelly.

Details of Hyland’s new deal aren’t yet known, but it’s almost certainly a minimum-salary contract. Jake Fischer reported last month that Hyland may end up receiving a non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed salary if and when he re-signed with the Wolves.

Minnesota entered the day with just 13 players on standard contracts and roughly $5.9MM in breathing room below the second tax apron, so assuming Hyland received a minimum deal, the team still has enough room to sign a 15th man without surpassing the second-apron threshold. Bringing in other camp invitees to compete with Hyland for the 14th roster spot would also be an option if his deal isn’t guaranteed.

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