Wolves Notes: Edwards, Offseason Changes, Reid, Dosunmu
The course for the Timberwolves‘ season was set by a strategic decision coach Chris Finch made shortly before opening night, Chris Hine of The Minnesota Star Tribune writes in a subscriber-only piece. Finch replaced veteran point guard Mike Conley in the starting lineup with Donte DiVincenzo, making Anthony Edwards the team’s primary ball-handler. Although he believed in the move at the time, Finch referred to it at Saturday’s end-of-season press conference as an “original sin” that the team could never overcome.
“Flipping Ant to the point guard spot just on the eve of the season, it certainly helped with Donte,” Finch said. “But it probably didn’t put everybody in the best position there, Ant included.”
Hine states that the adjustment wound up affecting the team on and off the court. Conley posted the worst season of his career before being traded in February and ultimately re-signed; Edwards’ pairing with Julius Randle never became as smooth as the organization had hoped; and Edwards’ increased play-making responsibilities seemed to impact his defense.
The lack of an experienced point guard to make sure everyone felt like they were contributing to the offense created a “moodiness” that several players referenced during their exit interviews. Hine cites a “detrimental impact” if certain players weren’t getting the shots they expected, even when the team was winning.
Sources told Hine that it didn’t take much for players to get into a “funk” and affect the team’s overall performance. Finch points to better “connectivity” as one of the themes for the offseason, and Naz Reid notes that the West’s top two teams, the Thunder and Spurs, seem to be on the same page more than the Wolves are.
“Being consistent, not moody, and having that competitive edge we had last year and the year before,” Reid told reporters. “… You can’t get anywhere if you’re fighting yourself, so I think that’ll help for sure.”
There’s more from Minnesota:
- The Wolves are expected to explore major changes this offseason, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. He notes that president of basketball operations Tim Connelly opted to keep the core of the team together after losing in the conference finals last year but is expected to aggressively seek trades this summer. Minnesota was among the teams that contacted the Bucks about Giannis Antetokounmpo before the deadline, and that pursuit will likely resume over the next few weeks. Krawczynski reports that talks with Milwaukee seemed to affect the locker room, particularly Randle, who was rumored to be headed out in a potential deal.
- Krawczynski expects changes to focus on the frontline, where Rudy Gobert ($36.5MM), Randle ($33MM) and Reid ($23.3MM) will combine to make nearly $95MM next season. Center Joan Beringer showed promise as a rookie, and the Wolves will want to give him more playing time in his second year.
- Reid was playing with a lingering shoulder injury he experienced around the All-Star break, Hine tweets. “There were times I couldn’t even shoot the ball, for real,” he said.
- Re-signing Ayo Dosunmu, who was acquired from Chicago at the trade deadline, should be an offseason priority, states Bobby Marks of ESPN. The Wolves hold Bird rights on Dosunmu, who will be eligible for to sign a three-year, $52.4MM extension until June 30. Marks points out that the team would have to unload at least $58.5MM in salary to be able to re-sign Dosunmu to a deal in that range without triggering a second apron hard cap.
- Edwards is also extension-eligible this summer, Marks adds, but only at $121.6MM over two seasons. He’s likely to wait a year and could be in line for $300MM over four seasons in 2027 if he earns a spot on the All-NBA team.
Mike Conley Wants To Continue Career
Timberwolves guard Mike Conley wants to play at least one more season, he told Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Twitter link).
“I think I might’ve proved to myself I can play a little longer,” he said.
Conley will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. The 38-year-old began the season with the Timberwolves but endured a tumultuous journey during the trade deadline.
The Timberwolves sent Conley to Chicago in a salary-dump trade on February 3, with the Bulls flipping him to Charlotte along with Coby White a day later, just ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline. The Hornets subsequently cut him, which cleared the way for the 38-year-old to return to Minnesota.
NBA rules prohibit a player who is traded and then waived to immediately re-sign with the team that traded him away. However, that restriction only applied to the Bulls, not the Timberwolves, since Conley was traded twice.
His playing time increased late in the regular season and he was part of the postseason rotation. He appeared in 12 playoff games, including five starts, and averaged 4.4 points and 2.7 assists in 14 minutes per game.
Conley has played 1,220 regular season games and 120 playoff games in a career that began in 2007 with Memphis.
Injury Notes: Wolves, Wizards, Spurs, Cavs, Quickley
After clinching a playoff spot on Tuesday in Indiana, the Timberwolves will hold some regulars out on the second night of a back-to-back set on Wednesday in Orlando. According to the team (Twitter link), Julius Randle (right hand soreness), Ayo Dosunmu (right calf injury maintenance), and Mike Conley (rest) are all out, while Rudy Gobert (rest) is considered questionable to play.
Star guard Anthony Edwards, who has missed nine of Minnesota’s past 11 games due to patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner’s knee) and an illness, will also sit out again as the team prioritizes getting him as healthy as possible for the playoffs. Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic suggested earlier this week that the Wolves may want Edwards to play a game or two at the end of the regular season before he gets another week off ahead of Game 1 of the first round.
The most notable Timberwolves injury update affects forward Jaden McDaniels, who has been on the shelf since March 25 due to left knee patella tendinopathy. According to a press release, McDaniels has been cleared for full-contact, 5-on-5 work and has been upgraded to questionable for Wednesday’s game vs. Orlando. Even if the 25-year-old isn’t upgraded to available tonight, it sounds like he’ll make his return before the regular season ends.
Here are more injury-related notes from around the NBA:
- Unsurprisingly, Wizards big man Anthony Davis and point guard Trae Young aren’t expected to play again this season, head coach Brian Keefe said on Tuesday (Twitter link via Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network). Davis, who has yet to make his Wizards debut, has been ramping up his work in recent weeks as he recovers from a hand injury, but will run out of time to return this spring. As for Young (low back pain; right quad contusion), he’s not as far along is his recovery process as Davis.
- The Spurs have ruled out Victor Wembanyama (left rib contusion) and Stephon Castle (right knee soreness) for Wednesday’s matchup with Portland, but they’re optimistic about both players’ chances of playing on Friday vs. Dallas, writes Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). Wembanyama will need to play at least 20 minutes in one of San Antonio’s final two games of the season in order to qualify for end-of-season awards, including MVP and Defensive Player of the Year.
- Cavaliers wing Jaylon Tyson, out since March 19 with a left great toe bone bruise, went through Wednesday’s shootaround and then conducted an individual workout with coaches and trainers, but his toe was still bothering him and he has been downgraded to doubtful for Wednesday’s contest against Atlanta, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Cavs forward Dean Wade, who has been sidelined since March 24 due to a right ankle sprain, has a better chance of making his return tonight — he’s listed as questionable.
- Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley played nearly 18 minutes in Tuesday’s win over Miami after missing the previous eight games due to plantar fasciitis. According to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link), Quickley said he has been battling an issue “a little bit deeper than just plantar fasciitis” that flared up in February, and while the time off helped, he recognizes that he’s still not 100%.
Wolves Notes: Randle, Gobert, Connectors, Reid
In Julius Randle‘s two seasons in Minnesota, Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch has never been publicly critical of the three-time All-Star, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
However, that changed after Friday’s loss to Portland, when the Wolves were up 104-103 with 35 seconds remaining and gave up a pair of offensive rebounds, eventually resulting a Jerami Grant three-pointer that put the Blazers ahead for good. Minnesota gave up 18 offensive boards in the game, while Randle — who is averaging a career-low 6.8 rebounds per game, Krawczynski notes — had five boards and only three on the defensive glass.
“All we gotta do, we’re up 104-103, and all we have to do is get a rebound and we can’t,” Finch lamented. “There’s like a lag time from the time the shot goes and we take a breath and we look up. They’re flying around and we’re delayed in our reactions. It’s been that way for a while. It’s just not good enough.
“We knew our guards needed to rebound. Ayo (Dosunmu) did a good job on the defensive glass. Rudy (Gobert) did a good job, but after that, we’ve got to have more rebounding. Julius has three defensive rebounds. That’s not good enough. It’s just not good enough.”
As Krawczynski writes, Randle and Finch have a close relationship, and Finch understands the “mercurial” power forward responds best to public support. The fact that Finch felt the need to criticize Randle speaks to the coach’s level of desperation as Minnesota jockeys for playoff positioning, Krawczynski adds.
While that play was emblematic of the Wolves’ overall effort on Friday, they had other opportunities to win the game and didn’t capitalize, per Krawczynski. Still, Randle didn’t disagree with his coach’s assessment.
“Just gotta go get the ball,” Randle said. “Sometimes it’s not tactical or all that stuff. We just gotta go get the ball out of the air. They are quicker to the ball than us right now. We shouldn’t lose games from rebounding.”
Here’s more from Minnesota:
- Finding ways to get Gobert, who missed a couple of tip-in attempts in the closing seconds that would have tied Friday’s game, more involved offensively is a top priority for the Wolves ahead of the postseason, Krawczynski states in another story. Gobert’s shaky hands and flubs around the basket sometimes cause his teammates to ignore him when he’s open, but Finch wants the team to keep giving the veteran center the ball. “They know not to look to me for sympathy if Rudy drops one of their passes, because sometimes he’s going to,” Finch said. “I tell them to keep throwing it. We have to. It pays off more than not. There are plenty of times when we miss him. We obviously want him to catch it. We want to be able to throw it in a manner where it’s easier for him to catch and finish. But I’ll take some of those turnovers if we’re trying to make the right play.”
- Anthony Edwards says Mike Conley, Kyle Anderson and trade deadline acquisition Ayo Dosunmu have all been “connectors” in the Timberwolves’ locker room, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Donte DiVincenzo had a more blunt assessment of what Conley and Anderson, in particular, bring to the table. “I mean, they’re mature adults,” he said. “Call it what it is. Not to say everybody else is not. You bring mature adults into a group that, call it what it is, guys go through emotions in a season, well, those guys are so comfortable with themselves, are very mature and know how to handle ups and downs. So, when you have that and guys can rely on them and lean on them, it just levels everybody out during those tough moments.”
- Key reserve Naz Reid was sidelined for Friday’s game due to a right ankle sprain. The 26-year-old big man is listed as questionable ahead of Sunday’s matchup in Boston, the team announced (via Twitter).
Timberwolves Notes: Gobert, Edwards, Conley, Reid
Rudy Gobert was terrific in Friday’s victory against Dallas, but the four-time Defensive Player of the Year will have to walk a fine line for the rest of the season after his latest flagrant foul resulted in another one-game suspension, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Gobert will receive an automatic two-game suspension if he accumulates any additional flagrant foul points.
Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch believes the team’s starting center gets an unjust whistle from officials.
“Seemingly every time Rudy gets clocked in the head and the face, which is quite a bit, it’s always just, ‘Ah that’s just two guys, play on. It’s nothing,’” Finch said. “But yet the other way around, we seem to be penalized for it.”
The 33-year-old big man, who is having a strong season for the Wolves, agreed with his coach’s assessment, Krawczynski notes.
“Guys are coming at me every night, hitting me in the face, grabbing me,” Gobert said. “They purposely foul me. That was like five times tonight. Run into my knees trying to box me out. All these plays are dangerous, and I’m fine with it, you know? But it’s really hard when you get super penalized, and people can do anything without accountability on me. So hopefully they look at that and make it a little more fair.”
Here’s more on the Timberwolves:
- Star guard Anthony Edwards, who had 40 points — including 14 in the fourth quarter — in Friday’s win, is optimistic about the team’s chances of making another deep playoff run, Krawczynski adds in the same story. “I feel like if we play every team how we play the best teams in the league, I feel like we’ve got a chance to go 25-0,” Edwards said. “It always starts with me. But if we come out and play every team like we play the top teams in the league, I feel like we’ve got a great chance.”
- Point guard Mike Conley re-signed with Minnesota last week after being traded to Chicago and then Charlotte ahead of the deadline. The 19-year veteran knows he might not play many minutes going forward, but he says he’ll be ready when he’s called upon, according to Andrew Dukowitz of Zone Coverage (Twitter video link). “I’m getting older, man (laughs), that’s one thing, but I just think that it’s their opportunity more than it is mine,” Conley said of his backcourt teammates. “… They’re right before their prime or in their prime. They should be getting these runs, they should be getting these big minutes… I’ve done all that, and I can be the stop gap here and there or the pinch hitter when you need me or whatever you need, but I’m prepared for that… like I said, I’m just happy to be here and help the guys as much as I can.”
- Backup big man Naz Reid is eyeing another Sixth Man of the Year trophy after winning the award two years ago, tweets Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. “Yeah, for sure. I need another one,” Reid said. “But that comes with winning. You gotta win as well. So those two things go hand in hand: winning and obviously having that award.” Reid, who threw down a poster dunk on Friday (YouTube link), is averaging 14.3 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.0 SPG and 0.9 BPG on .471/.387/.733 shooting through 57 games (26.3 MPG).
Mike Conley Officially Rejoins Timberwolves
As expected, veteran point guard Mike Conley has re-signed with the Timberwolves. The transaction is listed in NBA.com’s official log, while Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) confirms that the two sides have completed a rest-of-season deal.
The Timberwolves sent Conley to Chicago in a salary-dump trade on February 3, with the Bulls flipping him to Charlotte along with Coby White a day later, just ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline. The Hornets subsequently cut him, which cleared the way for the 38-year-old to return to Minnesota.
NBA rules prohibit a player who is traded and then waived to immediately re-sign with the team that traded him away. However, that restriction only applied to the Bulls, not the Timberwolves, since Conley was traded twice.
Word broke when Conley was still on waivers that he planned to rejoin the Wolves. The team waited until today to complete the signing in order to maximize its cap/tax savings by taking the full allotment of 14 days to get back to the NBA-mandated roster minimum of 14 players. Minnesota still has an open spot on its 15-man roster after signing Conley.
Conley, who is in his 19th NBA season, became the Wolves’ starting point guard when they acquired him at the 2023 trade deadline and maintained that role through last season. He ceded his starting job to Donte DiVincenzo this past fall and has averaged a career-low 18.5 minutes per night in 44 outings (nine starts) so far this season. His 4.4 points and 2.9 assists per game are also career lows, as is his 32.2% field goal percentage.
Despite Conley’s declining production, there were rumblings ahead of the trade deadline that the team wasn’t eager to move the veteran due to his locker room leadership. With that in mind, being able to move off of the guard’s $10.8MM expiring contract and then bring him back on a prorated minimum-salary deal represents the best of both worlds for the Wolves.
Assuming Conley did sign for the minimum, which is a safe bet, he’ll earn $1,148,727 for the rest of the season while the Wolves carry a cap hit of $725,834.
Conley will likely seeing his playing time decline a little in the season’s final two months after Minnesota acquired guard Ayo Dosunmu from Chicago at the trade deadline.
Mike Conley Plans To Rejoin Timberwolves
Veteran point guard Mike Conley intends to re-sign with the Timberwolves after he clears waivers, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
Conley was traded twice this week. Minnesota originally sent him to Chicago in a salary-dump deal on Tuesday, then the Bulls flipped him to Charlotte along with Coby White. The Hornets subsequently cut him.
NBA rules prohibit a player who is traded and then waived to immediately re-sign with the team that traded him away. However, that restriction doesn’t apply to the Timberwolves because Conley was traded twice. Once he clears waivers and becomes a free agent, he’d be ineligible to re-sign with the Bulls, the last team that traded him away, but nothing would be standing in the way of a reunion with Minnesota.
Conley, who is in his 19th NBA season, became the Wolves’ starting point guard when they acquired him at the 2023 trade deadline and maintained that role through last season. However, he ceded his starting role to Donte DiVincenzo this fall and has averaged a career-low 18.5 minutes per night in 44 outings (nine starts) so far this season. His 4.4 points and 2.9 assists per game are also career lows, as is his 32.2% field goal percentage.
Despite Conley’s declining production, there were rumblings ahead of the trade deadline that the team wasn’t eager to move the 38-year-old due to his locker room leadership. With that in mind, getting the opportunity to move off of the guard’s $10.8MM expiring contract and then bring him back on a prorated minimum-salary deal represents the best of both worlds for the Wolves.
Minnesota has two open spots on its 15-man roster following its deadline moves, so no corresponding move will be necessary to create room for Conley.
According to Charania, the two sides are working on the timing of the deal. Conley will clear waivers on Saturday afternoon, but the Wolves may not re-sign him immediately since doing so would increase their projected luxury tax penalty and move them closer to the first tax apron.
Mike Conley Waived By Hornets
The Hornets have waived Mike Conley after acquiring him on Wednesday in a trade with Chicago, the team announced (via Twitter).
The veteran point guard will be eligible to sign with any team except for the Bulls if no one claims him and his $10.8MM salary on waivers. There have been reports that he may be interested in returning to the Timberwolves, which would be permitted since he was traded twice before being released, but there’s no confirmation that will be his next move.
Minnesota is adding a guard in today’s trade with Chicago for Ayo Dosunmu, but still has two roster openings if there’s mutual interest with Conley.
Conley, 38, moved into a reserve role for the Wolves this season for the first time since being acquired from Utah at the 2023 trade deadline. He appeared in 44 games, averaging 4.4 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 18.5 minutes per night with .322/.321/.891 shooting numbers.
Conley was sent to the Bulls on Tuesday in a three-team trade that also involved Detroit. He was shipped to Charlotte a day later in the Coby White deal.
Hornets Acquire Coby White From Bulls
11:21 pm: The trade has been finalized, the Hornets announced (via Twitter).
2:01 pm: The Hornets and Bulls have agreed to a trade that will send guards Coby White and Mike Conley to Charlotte, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
In exchange, Chicago will acquire guard Collin Sexton, forward Ousmane Dieng, and three second-round picks, sources tell ESPN. Dieng is technically still a member of the Thunder, but is reportedly being traded to Charlotte in a deal involving center Mason Plumlee. Oklahoma City is sending the Hornets a second-round pick along with Dieng in that side deal, tweets Charania.
White, who will turn 26 later this month, is a talented scorer who has averaged 19.5 points per game since becoming a full-time starter at the beginning of the 2023/24 season. He has also averaged 4.8 assists and 4.1 rebounds per night over the course of 182 outings during that stretch, with a .448/.369/.859 shooting line.
Although White entered this winter as one of the Bulls’ prime trade candidates, his value has been negatively impacted by calf issues that have limited to 29 games this season, as well as his contract situation.
The veteran guard is on an expiring $12.9MM expiring deal, meaning his maximum extension with Chicago would have been worth $87MM over four years — he reportedly conveyed to the team prior to the season that he wouldn’t be signing an extension and would take his chances on earning a more lucrative payday in unrestricted free agency.
With teams viewing White as a possible rental, the Bulls were unable to extract a first-round pick for him on the trade market, but they did secure three second-rounders, which will be either the Nuggets’ or Hornets’ 2029 pick (whichever is least favorable), the Nuggets’ 2031 pick, and the Knicks’ 2031 pick, according to Zach Lowe of The Ringer (Twitter link).
The Hornets will presumably look to re-sign White, a North Carolina native who played his college ball at UNC, but Conley likely won’t spend long on Charlotte’s roster. He’s viewed as a buyout candidate, and since he’ll be traded twice this week, he would be eligible to return to the Timberwolves without running afoul of the NBA’s rule preventing a waived player to return to the team that traded him away. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line highlighted this potential outcome for Conley earlier today.
The Bulls, meanwhile, could have more moves up their sleeves in the next 24 hours, since they’ll still have a logjam in their backcourt. Sexton will join a group that features Josh Giddey, Ayo Dosunmu, Jaden Ivey, Anfernee Simons, and Tre Jones.
Grizzlies Reportedly Lower Asking Price For Ja Morant
After trading Jaren Jackson Jr. to Utah on Tuesday, the Grizzlies have lowered their asking price for point guard Ja Morant “dramatically,” rival teams tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link). Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports first reported that rivals were anticipating a reduction in Memphis’ price tag on Morant, which could pave the way for the two-time All-Star to change teams this week.
Iko describes the market for Morant as “diminished,” while Chris Mannix of SI.com agrees that interest has been limited, citing “availability, attitude and diminished production” as areas of concern for potential Morant suitors. However, Iko notes that some of those would-be suitors may return to the table after balking at Memphis’ previous demands.
The Grizzlies have increasingly recognized that a Morant trade won’t net them the same sort of hauls that they got for Jackson and Desmond Bane, Iko writes, and teams like the Timberwolves and Heat will have more interest in the guard as a buy-low target than they would’ve at Memphis’ initial price point.
Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints hears that the Grizzlies want to acquire some sort of draft compensation for Morant and may be inclined to accept the first offer that features a first-round pick, though that would presumably hinge on how much salary they’re being asked to take on. Sources tell Fischer that Memphis has conveyed a willingness to take on long-term contracts if they’re attached to worthwhile draft compensation.
Here’s more on Morant:
- While the Kings have been frequently linked to Morant, sources tell Fischer that their interest continues to be “minimal,” and James Ham of The Kings Beat hears similar rumblings, writing that Sacramento isn’t actively pursuing Morant and hasn’t spoken to the Grizzlies for two or three days. That doesn’t mean Sacramento is entirely out of the picture — Siegel cites league sources who believe the Kings would consider a Morant deal if it means moving off some of their own multiyear contracts, including perhaps those of Malik Monk and/or DeMar DeRozan. Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) also hears that Sacramento remains involved for Morant.
- Both the Timberwolves and Heat remain in the hunt for Giannis Antetokounmpo, so until there’s resolution on that front, they’ll presumably keep any potential Giannis-related trade assets off the table in talks with the Grizzlies. Miami has hoped to be able to land Morant for a Trae Young-esque return, Siegel explains. The Miami Herald has frequently mentioned Terry Rozier‘s and Simone Fontecchio‘s expiring contracts as a possible package for Morant, which would be an even lighter package than what Atlanta got for Young, but would create significant cap flexibility going forward for Memphis.
- There’s a “growing thought” that the Heat would be willing to sign Morant to the kind of contract extension he’ll be seeking beyond his current deal, sources tell Iko. Morant is under contract for two years and $87MM after this season.
- In addition to gauging the market for Morant, the Grizzlies have interest in potentially facilitating an Antetokounmpo trade and are closely monitoring that situation, according to Iko, who says Memphis explored the possibility of reacquiring Mike Conley from the Timberwolves before he was dealt to Chicago.