What to expect from the Minnesota Timberwolves this offseason?

Overall, the Timberwolves are not going to go from close to last to being in contention during the offseason, but they will be looking for ways to improve themselves for the future. Right now, it seems like the only players on this roster that are untouchable are Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, with pretty much everybody else being up for discussion. 

It is unlikely at this moment that Minnesota looks to trade either Karl-Anthony Towns or D’Angelo Russell, but teams will be inquiring about them in the offseason, which could lead to some pretty enticing trade packages being thrown the Timberwolves’ way. 

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The most likely players that will be moved via a trade in the offseason on the T-Wolves’ roster are Malik Beasley, Ricky Rubio and Jarrett Culver. These three guys alone take up roughly $38.4M in cap space for the 2021-22 season, which is why Minnsota could leverage all of them to immediately free up enough salary space to target a big name player. 

The question of “who would want to go to Minnesota,” definitely still reigns supreme and this would be an interesting scenario for the Timberwolves, but the bottom line is that their ownership and management wants to pay as little as possible. Leveraging guys like Beasley, Rubio and Culver not only keep the Timberwolves way under the hard cap for next season, but trading them gives them future assets that they can continue to use to build their team of the future. 

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At some point this offseason, we will see the Timberwolves involved in a deal, it is just a matter of who they will be trading away and what future assets they will be getting in return. Assuming they can stay healthy, Minnesota will be competitive during the 2021-22 season, but to think they will jump into playoff contention in the Western Conference is laughable. 

Without another high-level talent on this roster and a sustainable bench, the Timberwolves will be picking in the lottery for the foreseeable future, but they do have valuable pieces of their core intact right now. It will take time, but sooner or later, the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise will get back to fighting for a playoff spot… just not next year!