Minnesota Timberwolves: The General Manager Game
The Minnesota Timberwolves have a monumental offseason ahead — with multiple high draft picks and presumably a decent amount of salary-cap space.
The Minnesota Timberwolves sit with a top-heavy roster. With Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell both all-star caliber players, the back half of the starting lineup (and roster in general) need significant work.
Under the assumption James Johnson accepts his player option (worth roughly $16 million), the Timberwolves will have about $19 million in salary-cap space before bringing back any restricted free agents. Minnesota also currently holds three draft picks — currently projected as the third, 16th, and 33rd overall picks, which NBA Draft website Tankathon ranks as first overall in total draft capital.
Regardless, the Timberwolves have lots of options. Gersson Rosas even commented recently on what the surplus of draft selections enables him to do on draft night, saying it gives the team much more flexibility than most.
RULES OF THE GENERAL MANAGER GAME
- The premise of this is to simulate what the Timberwolves’ roster could look like following this coming offseason.
- The two main points in the offseason that will be included are the NBA Draft and Free agency.
- Only one trade is allowed (and it cannot be far-fetched). If it were any more than that, most of this would seem unreasonable, which is not the point of this article.
- The salary cap line of $115 million will be instituted since that is the last available projection. The luxury tax line will be set at $139 million. Rookie salaries will be included in the final salary cap numbers.
- Only 15 players can be on the final roster, plus two additional two-way players.
- This simulation is going to be under the assumption that James Johnson accepts his player option.
Let’s dive into it.