Minnesota Timberwolves: The General Manager Game

RESTRICTED FREE AGENCY

There are four pending restricted free agents left for the Timberwolves to decide on: Kelan Martin, Juan Hernangomez, Jordan McLaughlin, and Malik Beasley. Martin and McLaughlin were on two-way contracts and Hernangomez and Beasley were both acquired through a four-team, 12-player trade back before the trade deadline.

Kelan Martin averaged six points shooting sub-40-percent from the field this past season. Martin is a good defender, but has a lackluster offensive game and simply did not play much for the Timberwolves this past season. As a 24-year old rookie, you want to see flashes, and there wasn’t enough to keep him on the team for the 2020-21 season.

Juan Hernangomez was one of the two main pieces acquired for Robert Covington back in February. His 3-pointer is coming around which is really promising. All in all, Hernangomez is a lackluster defender but the overall spacing and offensive game he brings warrants a one-year ‘prove-it’ type contract. Hernangomez is brought back on the qualifying offer (~$4.6M).

Jordan McLaughlin really impressed as a rotational guard for the Timberwolves this past season. Despite being an older, somewhat undersized point guard, he held his own on both ends of the floor, averaging eight points, four assists, two rebounds, and only one turnover on splits of 52/41/63 over his final two dozen games for the Wolves. McLaughlin has a positive VORP and an assist rate over double that of his turnover rate. He is re-signed on a two-year, $10 million contract.

Finally, Malik Beasley is the big decision that the Timberwolves have to make. Beasley, who was downright incredible for Minnesota over the course of the final 14 games of the season, averaging 21 points, five rebounds, and two assists on splits of 47/43/75. Despite it being a smaller sample size, Beasley’s performance is consistent with the number of times he received an adequate amount of minutes from the Denver Nuggets in his time there.

Beasley absolutely warrants a second contract, and gets a four year, $60 million contract from Minnesota in this scenario.

RFA Recap:

Kelan Martin goes unsigned.

Juan Hernangomez signs a qualifying offer worth ~$4.6 million.

Jordan McLaughlin signs a two-year, $10 million contract ($5M AV)

Malik Beasley signs a four-year, $60 million contract ($15M AV)

Updated Roster:

PG: Ball, McLaughlin

SG: Russell, Beasley, Culver, Nowell*

SF: Okogie, Bey, Evans

PF: Johnson, Hernangomez, Layman, Vanderbilt*

C: Towns, Smith, Reid*, Spellman

(17 players total)

*Non-guaranteed contract