The first dance for the Minnesota Timberwolves this season might also end up being the last dance.
Appearing Thursday on FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back,” Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly has an opt-out in his contract after the season. Charania noted that Connelly’s contract was supposed to line up with the transition of the team’s ownership from Glen Taylor to Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore. However, the recent dramatic developments with the Timberwolves’ ownership situation have created a level of uncertainty.
Connelly arrived in Minnesota in 2022, agreeing to a five-year, $40 million contract. He was previously the president of basketball operations for the rival Denver Nuggets from 2013-22, laying the foundation for the team that eventually won the 2023 NBA title. Charania notes that, while Taylor had to sign off on the move, it was ultimately the vision of Rodriguez and Lore to bring Connelly in to the Timberwolves.
From a performance standpoint, this is the best that Minnesota has looked in decades. They have won 55 games and counting so far this season and loked poised to secure the No. 2 seed in the West, both of which would be their best marks since the 2003-04 season. But there is now an ugly war brewing for control of the team between Taylor and the Rodriguez-Lore camp. Taylor announced abruptly in March that their deal to transfer the majority ownership of the Timberwolves was off (leading Rodriguez and Lore to issue a sharp warning to Taylor to prepare for battle).
A report broke earlier this week suggesting that proposed cuts to the Timberwolves’ payroll was a factor in why the deal fell apart. That would directly impact Connelly’s ability to do his job, possibly forcing him to break up the team’s exciting current core (likely by choosing between star big men Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert). If things get even messier for the Timberwolves in the coming months, Connelly will apparently have the option of simply walking away from the whole mess.
