2. Save Money
It’s been well documented that the Minnesota Timberwolves want to add a veteran presence this offseason.
They could have as much as $37 million to work with this summer, not including the contract of the player they draft on June 22.
| Sala | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | 2017-18 | Signed Using | |
| Ricky Rubio | 26 | $14,250,000 | 1st Round Pick |
| Nikola Pekovic | 31 | $11,600,000 | Bird Rights |
| Cole Aldrich | 28 | $7,300,000 | Cap Space |
| Andrew Wiggins | 22 | $7,574,322 | 1st Round Pick |
| Karl-Anthony Towns | 21 | $6,216,840 | 1st round pick |
| Jordan Hill | 29 | $4,088,020 | Cap Space |
| Kris Dunn | 23 | $4,046,760 | 1st Round pick |
| Nemanja Bjelica | 29 | $3,949,999 | MLE |
| Brandon Rush | 31 | Cap Space | |
| Shabazz Muhammad | 24 | 1st Round Pick | |
| Gorgui Dieng | 27 | $14,112,360 | 1st Round Pick |
| Zach LaVine | 22 | $3,202,217 | 1st Round Pick |
| Adreian Payne | 26 | 1st Round Pick | |
| Tyus Jones | 21 | $1,397,400 | 1st Round pick |
| Omri Casspi | 28 | Minimum Salary | |
| Kevin Garnett | 41 | ||
| Kevin Martin | 34 | $1,360,305 | |
| John Lucas III | 34 | ||
| Lance Stephenson | 26 | ||
| Team Totals | $79,098,223 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
The seventh pick in the NBA Draft is slated to make $3,184,700 during the 2017-18 season. That figure rises to $3,780,100 the second year, $4,417,000 the third year, and $5,609,590 the final year of the rookie deal.
If Minnesota trades down to even the 13th spot in the draft, they would save themselves one million the first year alone.
By the fourth year of the deal, the Timberwolves would be saving about $1.3 million.
That number may seem small but it is significant. It’s signficant because the Timberwolves have a very complex situation in regards to Wiggins, LaVine, and Towns all due contract extensions in the next year or so.
Do they spend now so they can go over the cap to resign those players or do they keep some financial flexibility moving forward?
The Wolves also have a lot of holes to fill, which I will go into on the next slide.
Maximizing their cap space will provide them with more opportunities to fill the soon to be mentioned areas.