NBA Cap Guru: Timberwolves Can’t Afford PG Help
For multiple years now, the Minnesota Timberwolves have been looking for point guard help. As much as Anthony Edwards has grown this year as a ball-handler and initiator of the offense, the Wolves turn the ball over at a higher rate than most teams in the NBA for a reason.
That’s why president of basketball operations Tim Connelly traded up to No. 8 overall in 2024 to draft Rob Dillingham. When Dilly turned out to be a short-term flop, the Wolves started sniffing around the trade market at every ball-handler who was rumored to be available.
But with the NBA trade deadline looming on February 5th (2pm CT), Connelly is running out of time to get a deal done that will impact the MN Timberwolves chances of making an NBA Finals run this summer.
Marks: MN Timberwolves won’t find a PG they can afford
On Tuesday, former NBA GM turned NBA salary cap guru at ESPN, Bobby Marks, shined a light on what is taking Minnesota so long to reel in a point guard.
While the Timberwolves are no longer a second apron luxury tax team, they are still straddled with all sorts of trade and financial limitations that he believes will make it virtually impossible for the Wolves to trade for a point guard.
Thus, he expects Tim to turn his gaze to the wing market, where adding a scorer off the bench makes a ton more sense.
The Timberwolves are in a similar position as last season. They have escaped the purgatory of the second apron but still cannot receive more salary (other than a player on a veteran minimum) in a trade or send out a first-round pick. A trade to aggregate contracts could be difficult, considering the Timberwolves are $3.6 million below the second apron.
While finding a permanent solution at point guard has been a storyline all season (they rank eighth in offense), Minnesota is better off searching for an athletic wing to come off the bench, either in a trade or getting back a healthy Terrence Shannon Jr. Before injuring his foot in late December, Shannon was averaging 4.5 points and a career-low 39.5% from the field.
ESPN
This isn’t the first time we have seen the trade winds changing in Minneapolis. Last week, The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski wrote about the same thing. Days later, however, the Timberwolves were mentioned as being in contact with teams regarded just about every point guard on the trade market.
Right now, the Minnesota Timberwolves are 28-19. Their win over Golden State on Monday ended a five-game losing streak and bumped them back up to 6th in the Western Conference, meaning if the season ended today, they’d be a play-in team.
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