Nuggets Want Tim Connelly Back; Should Timberwolves be Concerned?

With only three games remaining in their regular seasons, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets are jockeying with other Western Conference teams within just a couple of games of each other, for seeds 3-8 in the upcoming 2025 NBA Playoffs.

Let’s fast-forward, though. Because if we look beyond the 2025 NBA Playoffs, the Minnesota Timberwolves have a lot of questions to answer this offseason.

Timberwolves have decisions to make this offseason… inside the front office

Short of a run to the NBA Finals, it’ll be difficult for Wolves president Tim Connelly to convince new owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez that this Timberwolves roster — which is due to return its most expensive players next season if Julius Randle opts into his player option — is worth a $90+ million luxury tax bill.

The questions do not stop at the 2025-26 roster and future luxury tax payments, though. Connelly, himself, has an option in his contract that needs to be addressed before he controls anything to do with the future of the Minnesota Timberwolves organization.

That’s where the Denver Nuggets come into the picture. Remember, Tim was working as PoBO in Denver three years ago, when Lore and A-Rod saw an opportunity to swoop in and sway arguably the most underpaid head decision-maker in basketball to leave Colorado for a hefty payday in Minnesota.

After the Nuggets fired both their head coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth Wednesday, Denver ownership seems to have gained a new respect for what Tim Connelly did, running a drama-free show in that went nuclear once he left.

Denver Nuggets want to take Tim Connelly back from Minnesota Timberwolves?

So with Connelly’s contract up this offseason with the Timberwolves, his old team is reportedly planning to make a run at bringing him back out west. Of course, there was a reason why Lore and A-Rod targeted Connelly in the first place. Thus, according to this morning’s reporting by Sam Amick and Tony Jones (The Athletic) Lore and A-Rod aren’t about to let their guy slip away that easy.

League sources expect there to be discussions about a possible reunion [in Denver] with Tim Connelly, the former Nuggets general manager who drafted Jokić and whose departure to the Minnesota Timberwolves in May 2022 led to Booth’s promotion from his assistant general manager role.

While Connelly has an opt-out in his contract for this summer, it’s widely believed that Timberwolves owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore will do what it takes to retain him. League sources say Connelly’s right-hand man in Minnesota, general manager Matt Lloyd, is expected to receive consideration for the Nuggets job as well.

The Athletic

Now, could this report wind up being nothing more than a bullet point in Connelly’s presentation to the Wolves this offseason, during contract negotiations? It’s very possible. But if there is any organization that could reel Tim away from the Wolves, it’s probably his former team.

MN Timberwolves playing in must-win game Thursday night

The Minnesota Timberwolves had been playing well, recently, and entered their last game against the Milwaukee Bucks as winners of four-straight. Up by more than 20 points in the fourth quarter, it felt like they were on their way to an easy fifth-straight win.

Then, they were outscored 40-13 in that final period, ultimately falling 103-110 at Fiserv Arena. Tonight, they get back on the horse in Memphis vs the Grizzlies, another West team battling for playoff position against Minnesota and Denver. It’s without a doubt one of the most important regular season games in recent Timberwolves history.

Related: Confirmed: Timberwolves’ Trade Interest in NBA Superstar is Mutual

But no matter what happens on the court Thursday, the Wolves won’t be down as bad as the Grizzlies — whose only superstar can’t stay out of trouble — or their Northwest Division rival Nuggets, who just a week before the playoffs are set to start, fired their head coach and general manager on Wednesday.