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:
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.
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.
September 15: The Timberwolves have officially signed Juzang, the team announced today in a press release.
August 1: Free agent guard Johnny Juzang has reached an agreement with the Timberwolves and will sign a one-year contract with the team, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
While Charania doesn’t provide any further details on the deal, it’s safe to assume it’s a minimum-salary contract, and Chris Hine of The Star Tribune (Twitter link) reports that it won’t be guaranteed. Juzang will get the chance in camp to compete for a spot on the 15-man roster or a two-way deal., Hine adds.
Juzang, 24, caught on with Utah after going undrafted out of UCLA in 2022 and has spent the past three seasons with the Jazz — two on two-way deals, then last season on a standard contract. He actually signed a four-year deal with Utah last August, but only the first season was guaranteed, so he was waived in June before his $2.84MM salary for 2025/26 was locked in.
Juzang made just 38 total appearances during his first two NBA seasons, but earned a rotation role in ’24/25, averaging 19.8 minutes per night across 64 outings. He put up 8.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, with a respectable .429/.376/.849 shooting line. However, the Jazz were the NBA’s worst defensive team and Juzang did little to help matters on that end — his 120.3 defensive rating was the second-worst among players who logged at least 500 minutes for Utah.
The Timberwolves entered the day with 13 players on standard guaranteed contracts and a pair of players on two-way deals, so they’ll have 16 players on their offseason roster once they’ve officially signed Juzang. They also still have a two-way qualifying offer on the table for Tristen Newton.
Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2025 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Naz Reid: Five years, $125,000,000. Fifth-year player option. Re-signed using Bird rights.Given that the Timberwolves have only advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs three times in franchise history, it’s not an exaggeration to call the last two seasons – which saw them appear in back-to-back Western Conference Finals – the most successful stretch in team history. However, entering the 2025 offseason, financial concerns threatened to put a dent in a roster that had won four postseason series in the past two years.
Marc Lore, Alex Rodriguez, and their “deep-pocketed” ownership group finally assumed majority control of the Timberwolves in June, while defensive anchor Rudy Gobert took a pay cut of nearly $9MM on a new deal that began in 2025/26. But after operating above the second tax apron in ’24/25, the Wolves weren’t eager to surpass that threshold for a second consecutive year. That meant the club likely wouldn’t be able to re-sign all three of its top free agents, Naz Reid, Julius Randle, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
The Wolves chose to prioritize Reid and Randle, reaching a five-year, $125MM agreement with the former and a three-year, $100MM deal with the latter. Since both Reid and Randle are power forwards, there was an argument for letting one of them walk, but Minnesota was a much better team when both players were available, since it allowed Reid – the Sixth Man of the Year in 2023/24 – to go to work against second units and created more frontcourt optionality. The Wolves had a 44-25 record in games Randle played, compared to a 5-8 mark when he was sidelined.
Reid’s $125MM contract, which is fully guaranteed with a fifth-year player option, was actually the most lucrative deal signed by any free agent this summer. That may seem like an aggressive investment in a player who doesn’t project to be a starter, but the 26-year-old has been one of the league’s most effective reserves in recent years and would be fully capable of stepping into a starting role in the event that Randle is traded at some point in the next couple seasons.
Reid’s new contract will also cover his prime years and isn’t an anomaly when compared to deals around the league. DeMar DeRozan, Miles Bridges, Tobias Harris, John Collins, RJ Barrett, Jerami Grant, and Khris Middleton are among the forwards who will earn between $3-12MM more than Reid in 2025/26.
Randle, meanwhile, turned down a $30.9MM player option in favor of a multiyear deal that starts at the same price. The three-time All-Star has taken some flak for his inconsistent three-point shot and mediocre defense, but he’s a talented, scorer, play-maker, and rebounder who had an excellent postseason (21.7 PPG, 5.9 RPG, and 4.9 APG on .502/.385/.880 shooting), and he should be more comfortable in his second year in Minnesota following his first full offseason as a Timberwolf. He had little time to adjust to new his home last fall when the Knicks traded him to the Wolves at the start of training camp.
With Reid and Randle back in the fold, the Wolves didn’t have enough room below the second apron for Alexander-Walker, who received a four-year, $60MM+ contract from the Hawks.
Minnesota got a future second-round pick and cash as part of that sign-and-trade transaction, but lacked the resources to acquire a direct replacement for Alexander-Walker, a three-and-D guard, in free agency or on the trade market. The Wolves will be betting on increased contributions from a trio of in-house backcourt youngsters, with Rob Dillingham, Terrence Shannon Jr., and Jaylen Clark each likely getting the opportunity to compete for an increased role in 2025/26.
Although the Wolves also used a first-round pick on Joan Beringer and re-signed Joe Ingles to another minimum-salary contract, Beringer is an 18-year-old who will be playing stateside for the first time and Ingles shifted into the “locker room leader” phase of his career last season by logging 114 total minutes in 19 outings. It’s probably not realistic to expect major contributions from either player this season.
The Timberwolves entered the day on Monday with just 13 players on standard contracts and a team salary roughly $5.86MM below the second tax apron. Bones Hyland has since signed a contract – presumably worth the minimum – that could line him up to be Minnesota’s 14th man.
It’s possible Hyland will simply get that 14th roster spot and the Timberwolves will carry a 14-man standard roster into the regular season, but it’s not quite that simple.
For one, we don’t know yet how much (if any) of Hyland’s salary is guaranteed. Is he being handed a roster spot or will he have to compete for one? If it’s the latter, he could be the first of a handful of veteran free agents to reach deals with the Wolves, similar to how the Knicks agreed to terms with Landry Shamet, Garrison Mathews, and Malcolm Brogdon in a 24-hour span last week.
Minnesota also has enough wiggle room below the second apron to add a 15th man on a minimum deal or even using a modest portion of the taxpayer mid-level exception. But the Wolves are far enough into the tax that they’d be paying a penalty of $3.50 per dollar on that 15th man’s salary, so it would have to be someone they really like.
For what it’s worth, I’ve long thought that it would be in the Wolves’ best interest to add another veteran point guard to provide depth behind Mike Conley, who will be entering his age-38 season. Donte DiVincenzo and Hyland aren’t really true point guards, and it’s unclear if Dillingham will be ready to take on that role in his second NBA season. Brogdon would’ve been a nice fit, but there are other options still out there, including Cameron Payne and another one of Connelly’s former Nuggets, Monte Morris.
The Wolves have an open two-way slot available alongside Enrique Freeman and second-round pick Rocco Zikarsky, but the expectation is that Tristen Newton will fill it. The 2024 second-rounder reportedly agreed a month-and-a-half ago to sign his two-way qualifying offer, but that move still hasn’t been officially confirmed by either the team or the league. Assuming it gets done as expected, Minnesota’s two-way players should be set for the season.
As for potential extension-eligible players, most of the Wolves’ core players are already on longer-term deals. The only players eligible for extensions this fall are DiVincenzo and Leonard Miller.
A DiVincenzo extension isn’t out of the question, but he has two guaranteed years left on his current contract, so I doubt the Wolves will be in a hurry to get something done with him at this point unless he’s willing to give them a pretty team-friendly rate.
Miller, meanwhile, has barely seen the floor in his first two NBA seasons, playing just 84 total minutes in 30 appearances. At this point, extending his current deal is probably less of a priority than simply making sure he shows enough to finish out that expiring contract without being waived.
The Timberwolves paid a hefty price to the Jazz to acquire Rudy Gobert. Minnesota was heavily criticized for giving up five players and a package of first-rounders for the defensive stalwart after Gobert’s first season in the organization. However, the trade can now be considered a resounding win for the Timberwolves, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic opines.
Krawczynski cites Gobert’s impact over the past two seasons and suggests the team’s success during that stretch have changed the culture in Minnesota. The organization has become a place players want to play with heightened expectations and Gobert has been a big part of that change.
We have more from the Western Conference:
The Timberwolves have promoted Joe Connelly to vice president of player personnel and added Chris Hines as an assistant coach, according to a team press release.
The Wolves also announced several other promotions or additions, including Jeff Newton as assistant coach/director of player development, James White as assistant coach/player development, Dapo Adegbile as basketball strategy/analytics coordinator and Kelly McCarty as a player development associate.
Connelly – the brother of Minnesota’s head of basketball operations Tim Connelly – has spent the last three seasons as the team’s director of scouting. Prior to joining the Timberwolves, Connelly spent the previous seven seasons with the Nuggets holding various roles in scouting and player development.
Hines enters his fourth season with the Timberwolves after spending the last season as the team’s assistant coach/director of player development. He also spent time with Minnesota as a development coach.
Newton enters his seventh season with the organization and served as an assistant coach last season. White returns for his third season with the organization after spending the last two seasons as a player development assistant.
Adegbile enters his fourth season with the organization after previously spending last season as their strategy analyst.
McCarty joins the Timberwolves after spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the G League’s Iowa Wolves.
The NBA is conducting its own investigation into Malik Beasley related to allegations of improper gambling on games and prop bets, the league confirmed to ESPN’s David Purdum. Beasley is “fully cooperating” in that probe, attorney Steve Haney told ESPN.
Word broke in June, just ahead of his free agency, that the veteran sharpshooter was under investigation by the U.S. District Attorney’s office due to unusual betting activity on Beasley-related wagers during the 2023/24 season.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported in August that Beasley is no longer a “target” in that investigation, though subsequent reports indicated that he’s still a “subject” of the investigation, meaning he’s not entirely in the clear.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, the NBA has the right to investigate a case and hand out its own penalty (e.g. a fine or suspension) unless a player is explicitly found not guilty in a court of law. So even if federal investigators don’t charge Beasley, that doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t face any punishment from the league, though presumably the findings in both investigations will be similar.
Investigators in the case are reportedly focused on unusually heavy betting activity on Beasley’s statistics in January 2024, including a Jan. 31 game in which action on his “under 2.5 rebounds” prop bet surged significantly in the hours leading up to tip-off — he ended up grabbing six rebounds in that game, meaning the bets deemed unusual lost.
The NBA’s investigation into Beasley is believed to be in its final stages, a source familiar with the situation tells Purdum. For what it’s worth, the 28-year-old wing recently published an Instagram post in which he stated that “my decision is near,” which may be a reference to a free agency decision.
Beasley and the Pistons were reportedly deep in talks on a three-year, $42MM deal before word of the federal investigation broke and Detroit pulled that offer. The Pistons no longer have the cap space or exceptions available to make that sort of offer for Beasley, but could go up to a starting salary of $7.2MM using his Non-Bird rights.
The Cavaliers, Knicks, and Timberwolves are among the other teams said to have registered interest in Beasley. He’s coming off a strong season in Detroit in which he was the Sixth Man of the Year runner-up after averaging 16.3 points per game and finishing second in the NBA in three-pointers made (319).
With most of the NBA’s offseason action now in the books, Chris Herring and Kevin Pelton of ESPN identify the 14 NBA “newcomers” whose changes of scenery will have the greatest impact in 2025/26.
There are no surprises at the top of the list, which features new Rockets forward Kevin Durant at No. 1, Magic guard Desmond Bane at No. 2, and Nuggets forward Cameron Johnson at No. 3. However, Herring and Pelton deviate a little from expectations at No. 4 by including a head coach: Mike Brown of the Knicks. As Herring writes, it’s possible no coach in the league will face more “title-or-bust pressure” than Brown in his first year on the job.
Lakers center Deandre Ayton rounds out the top five on the 14-man list, which – outside of Brown – is made up exclusively of players.
We have more from around the basketball world:
Tragedy has struck Timberwolves big man Naz Reid and his family. His sister, Toraya Reid, was shot and killed Saturday in New Jersey, Eva Herscowitz of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. A New Jersey prosecutor charged Shaquille Green, whom the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said was in a relationship with Toraya Reid, with her murder.
Reid’s former teammate, Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns, was devastated by the news.
“Heartbroken. No words can ever take away the pain for my brother,” Towns tweeted. “Holding everyone close in prayer today.”