Minnesota Timberwolves: Wolves should let Jerryd Bayless walk

Jerryd Bayless is the once piece of the Jimmy Butler trade that the Minnesota Timberwolves should move on from when he hits free agency this summer.

Philadelphia sent Jerryd Bayless to the Minnesota Timberwolves to create roster and cap space for the 76ers back in November as part of the Jimmy Butler trade that also brought Dario Saric and Robert Covington to the Twin Cities.

The Wolves already had Jeff Teague, Derrick Rose and Tyus Jones on their roster, after all, and in his two seasons in Philadelphia Bayless had managed just 42 appearances.

With the Wolves, Bayless has seen the court on 31 occasions, starting six times. Overall, he’s averaging 6.1 points and 3.5 assists in 19.7 minutes per game, and outside of a couple of impressive performances has struggled to find much of a rhythm.

With Teague and Rose out for the season and the year already marred by a number of injuries, Bayless hasn’t had high pressure to perform but has managed to be a steady contributor throughout the tail end of the campaign.

That being said, the Timberwolves should not offer him a deal come end of season, especially if he’s chasing money like the $9 million a year he’s currently on.

While he’s made his way into the rotation for the tail end of the season, if the Wolves had a healthy roster, Bayless likely wouldn’t be seeing the court at all. His 6.1 points is coming on 34.3 percent shooting and just 28.4 percent from 3-point range.

Even his free throw percentage is a paltry 58 percent, and the general consensus among Timberwolves fans on Twitter seems to be that he isn’t the type of player we want around for the long run.

Here’s a sampling of some of the tamer thoughts surrounding Bayless from Wolves Twitter…

That said, Bayless was a contributor in the Wolves’ comeback against the Golden State Warriors late last week. Ryan Saunders’ repeated decision to keep Bayless in over Jones in late-game situations is questionable, particularly when Saunders is coaching to keep his job, but it worked out in this instance.

Of course, Bayless isn’t quite as bad of a player as Twitter might have us believe. He certainly doesn’t fit with the Wolves’ game plan, and his shooting has been unbelievably bad for a player that already has a history of poor shooting.

It will be interesting to see just how many offers Bayless garners this offseason, and I would be surprised if his price rises much higher than a veteran’s minimum deal, but either way the Wolves should not be in the market to re-sign the guard.

With both Rose and Jones hitting the open market and Teague needing to decide on his player option, the Timberwolves will certainly be looking at point guards during free agency. Rose and Jones will both have a market, but the $9 million a year Bayless is currently enjoying would be an upgrade of almost $7 million to both Rose and Jones and would be much better spent keeping one of them in Minnesota.

While some big name guards like Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker and D’Angelo Russell may be on the market this offseason, the Wolves will also have the likes of Isaiah Thomas, Terry Rozier and T.J. McConnell to look at in free agency — all of whom would arguably be better off investing in than Bayless.

Free agency is certainly going to be an entertaining period for Wolves’ fans this offseason. While some names will hopefully be making a return for the future of the Wolves, others might be better off wearing other uniforms.