Timberwolves Offseason: Pending Wolves free agents

The Minnesota Timberwolves had a great season, landing their first playoff berth since 2004, but the Wolves have a busy offseason ahead of them.

Let’s jump right into a look at the Timberwolves’ cap situation as they head into the offseason.

First off, it’s important to note that with at least six less players under contract for 2018-19, the Timberwolves already owe more for next season than this season, thanks to Andrew Wiggins‘ contract extension taking off with a $25 million hit next year.

Wiggins also becomes the Wolves’ highest-paid player next season, making almost $5 million more than Jimmy Butler.

That makes all of these pending free agents an even bigger deal due to the more working around of the cap space that the front office will need to do to secure a team ready to win next season. Whether it be resigning some of these players, or searching for new talent, money is going to be a bigger deal this offseason than it was last, so let’s see what players we may be missing next season.

Thankfully, none of the regular starters are will see their contracts expire just yet, however Nemanja Bjelica who did start 21 games this season, will be a restricted free agent this offseason.

Bjelica has been a Timberwolf since his NBA debut three seasons ago, and his 41.5 percent 3-point shooting throughout the season was a big lift for the team that ranked last in the league in made 3-pointers.

Bjelica would be a big loss for the Timberwolves, who will likely try to re-sign the Serbian. A stable member of the Wolves’ bench, Bjelica has been able to fill a starting role when needed, such as during Butler’s injury.

Another possible free agent is Jamal Crawford, who has a player option on his $4.5 million contract next season.

While Crawford likely won’t be searching for a huge contract at this stage in his career, he could certainly opt-out to search for more money, as the 38-year-old had no shortage of options on the open market a year ago.

Crawford may look to stay — after all, he appeared to have complete freedom on the court, sometimes seemingly taking any shot he pleased — however, early in the season he did voice that he had been expecting more minutes when signing with the Wolves.

It’s yet to be seen what Crawford plans to do this offseason, but he would be a significant loss for the Timberwolves if he chose to leave, his 10.3 points led the team’s bench, and his 80 appearances ranked fourth among all Wolves.

Next up is one of the newest Wolves, who made his impact felt during the playoffs.

Derrick Rose signed with Minnesota in March after spending the majority of the season in Cleveland and then being waived by Utah after a trade deadline deal.

Rose was arguably one of the Timberwolves’ best players in the playoffs, picking up minutes that a hobbled Jimmy Butler didn’t play an even earning minutes over regular backup point guard Tyus Jones in the process, although Jones did miss one game due to a sore knee.

His impressive playoffs stats: 14.2 points per game on 51 percent shooting, including 70 percent from 3-point range, 2.6 assists and an 85 percent clip from the free throw line.

Unfortunately for the Timberwolves, signing Rose so late in the season may also be his only time in a Minnesota jersey, as he is a free agent this offseason and his intended landing place is yet to be seen.

It depends what Rose wants to do with his career, as joining a lower-tier team could likely see Rose return to the role of starting point guard, or joining an immediate title contender could see him flee to Houston, Golden State or Boston in the offseason.

Should he feel comfortable building alongside the Wolves and being a bigger part of building a championship culture for the next few seasons, however, he may return to Minnesota.

Two Wolves who didn’t receive a whole lot of playing time during their one-year contracts with the Wolves were Aaron Brooks and Marcus Georges-Hunt.

Brooks, who has been in the league since 2007, averaged just five minutes per game in 32 regular season appearances. His 2.3 points per game is actually pretty decent when you consider the small amount of playing time he actually gathered in those games, and it converts to 14.3 points per 36 minutes. (Meaningless? Sure, but there it is.)

Brooks found himself fourth on the Timberwolves point guard depth chart after the signing of Rose, as Rose, Tyus Jones and  Jeff Teague all seemed to be preferred options in Thibodeau’s plans.

Georges-Hunt experienced his second season in the NBA after a five-game stretch with Orlando throughout the 2016-17 season.

The 23-year-old averaged 5.3 minutes in 42 appearances for the regular season, adding 1.4 points per game.

For a period of time, it seemed that Georges-Hunt had cracked Thibodeau’s tough rotation and may be a staple of the Wolves’ bench when he appeared in 25 of the team’s 28 games dating between Dec. 14 and the Feb. 3. However, his appearances stalled and Georges-Hunt made sparse appearances, similar to Brooks, throughout the remainder of the season.

Worth mentioning is that Thibodeau chose to put both Brooks and Georges-Hunt in for garbage time minutes during the final two playoff games of the series. Whether this was to encourage them that they may have a future with the Wolves, or if it was more of a last chance to appear in a Timberwolves’ jersey is yet to be seen, but both are free agents this offseason.

Finally, we come to the Timberwolves’ two-way contract signees, which expire this offseason.

Anthony Brown, who made a four minute appearance in his one Timberwolves’ game this season — and scored on his only shot, a 3-point attempt — may have more luck getting playing time searching elsewhere.

His previous NBA experience in 29 games (11 starts) for the Lakers in 2015-16, and 11 games split between New Orleans and Orlando in 2016-17, may put him in a position to find a bench role on a young team looking for depth.

While Brown may be able to contribute to the Wolves if given a chance, it may be in his best interests to look at other options this offseason in an attempt to find some playing time; his performances in the G-League over the past two seasons have seen him voted an All-Sar both years at that level.

Amile Jefferson, whose two-way contract was actually converted to a regular contract before the playoffs to make him eligible for playing time, is also a free agent this offseason after not making an appearance for the Timberwolves this season.

However, his impressive G-League play, including being named to the All-NBA G-League Rookie and Defensive first teams and the Second Team for all players, suggests that Jefferson may be able to seek an NBA contract in the offseason.

Whether the Wolves choose to pursue Jefferson as a real prospect is yet to be seen, but I believe Jefferson should be able to find a bench role on an NBA team this offseason, and we will likely see him find his NBA debut next season.

With the Timberwolves season officially over, the offseason should be extremely exciting to follow.

Next: Should Butler be Traded?

What plans Thibodeau has in terms of trades, signings, extensions and drafting is yet to be seen, but fans can be assured there’ll be plenty of buzz around the Timberwolves over the next few months.