Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Butler, Bjelica, and Karl Towns Sr.
By Ben Beecken
The offseason rolls on for the Minnesota Timberwolves, with old friend Nemanja Bjelica finding a new home, along with other happenings.
Earlier this week, the Minnesota Timberwolves rescinded the qualifying offer to restricted free agent Nemanja Bjelica, making the Serbian forward an unrestricted free agent. This allowed them to make an offer to Anthony Tolliver, who will make his return to the Wolves. (And, in my opinion, at least, be an upgrade at the backup forward spot.)
As it turns out, it only took about three days for Bjelly to find work.
Bjelica will sign a one-year, $4.4 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, which will allow him to hit the market once again next offseason. He’ll be 31 during the summer of 2019, so he’ll need to do his best to find a long-term deal before his prime is over and done with, but the fit with the Sixers appears to be a good one.
He’ll replace the role vacated by Ersan Ilyasova, who signed a multi-year deal in Milwaukee. He’s a superior 3-point shooter to Ilyasova, but isn’t quite the same rebounder. He will give Philly some nice defensive versatility off the bench, however.
Elsewhere in Wolves Land, Danny Heifetz of The Ringer added his two-cents to the Jimmy Butler saga. There’s not much ground-breaking here, other than discussing the possibility of Boston’s interest in trading for Butler.
I’d bet on one thing in this whole situation, and that’s this: Butler will not be traded. Tom Thibodeau will watch Jimmy G. Buckets walk away from 600 First Avenue before he trades him, and that means that Butler isn’t going anywhere until next July.
(I’m also on record as thinking that Minnesota is as good/likely of an option as, say, Brooklyn or New York for Butler to team up with Kyrie Irving, for what it’s worth.)
Lastly, the Scoop B Radio Podcast had Karl Towns, Sr. on earlier in the week. One of the more interesting topics covered was the impact that Kevin Garnett had on Karl-Anthony Towns during the one-plus season that they were together in Minnesota. He also adds that the duo is still close, despite Garnett’s abrupt exit (for the second time) from the Timberwolves organization.
Next: Could Jimmy Butler and Kyrie Irving team up?
We’ll have some more free agency thoughts throughout the weekend. Keep it here.