The Minnesota Timberwolves are going big after going home in the first round of the playoffs this year.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Wednesday that the Timberwolves are in serious talks with Denver Nuggets executive Tim Connelly about their vacant president of basketball operations position. Minnesota had recently requested permission from Denver to interview Connelly, and talks have progressed beyond the exploratory phase, Charania adds.
Connelly, who currently works for a division rival in the Nuggets, is a real swing-for-the-fences target for the Timberwolves. He has been Denver’s lead decision-maker since 2013, including serving as their president of basketball operations since 2017. In that span, the Nuggets drafted cornerstone players Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr. The team has also made the playoffs out West for the last four straight years, including two division titles plus a conference finals berth in 2020.
For the Timberwolves meanwhile, they have not had a full-time president of basketball operations since Gersson Rosas was fired amid controversy last September. Sachin Gupta has been interim president in the meantime. But the team’s next full-time president will have a full plate this summer, including facing the possibility of trading away a top player.
