Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 sensible in-house contract moves

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN – APRIL 21: Jeff Teague #0 of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates being fouled on a shot by the Houston Rockets in Game Three of Round One of the 2018 NBA Playoffs on April 21, 2018 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Timberwolves defeated 121-105. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

Another disappointing move if you’re a Timberwolves fan. Losing point guard, Jeff Teague, would be a move too soon for this organization to make after just acquiring him. Although, he makes more money ($19 million) than Kyrie Irving, John Wall, Goran Dragic, Kemba Walker, and Eric Bledsoe – who is probably his biggest comparison as a player.

That $19 million cannot be worth it when you have guys like Paul George and Klay Thompson up in free agency over the next two summers, there is way too much talent to keep an above average point guard for a ridiculous price such as his contract.

Tyus Jones hasn’t had his opportunity to start in this league and this could be the right time to try it out, also Derrick Rose finished the Timberwolves season as their third best option on the whole team, and together both of those guards make around $4 million.

What move is there to make? There are certain teams that are very needy at the point guard position. Such as the San Antonio Spurs, Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns, as well as others who just need depth in their backcourts. Just like the Taj Gibson move, there is enough potential in Jeff Teague for a team to just hand over some late draft picks, which would be the best case scenario in this situation.

To summarize these three options, there are a numerous amount of amazing free agents over the next few seasons that the Timberwolves could go after, mostly in the 2019 offseason due to cap restrictions. They include, Chris Paul, DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George, Deandre Jordan, Aaron Gordon, Julius Randle, Clint Capela, Jabari Parker, Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, and so on (we could literally keep going forever). Not only that, but the amount of young role players that want contracts worth up to $8-12 million is a big enough incentive to make a few deals like these happen.

So why not take the chance of one of these players signing in Minnesota to help rebuild a team desperately lacking young talent and depth? All you need to do is trade some bad contracts, good luck, Glen Taylor/Tom Thibodeau. At the end of the day, if you can move these three players, you’d save close to $50 million in cap over the next year, with not much of a talent loss.