Minnesota Timberwolves: Which restricted free agent is most likely to return?

The Minnesota Timberwolves enter the offseason with two restricted free agents in Jordan McLaughlin and Jarred Vanderbilt.

Without much cap space, it stands to reason that the Wolves may simply focus on retaining their own talent. But will they be able to keep both of their pending restricted free agents?

Minnesota Timberwolves: Factors to consider heading into free agency

With no draft picks and little cap space, the only move the Wolves have made to date this offseason is sending Ricky Rubio and his expiring contract to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Taurean Prince, a 2022 second-round pick, and $2.5 million in cash.

The deal was reported and agreed to on draft day, but became official at some point on Monday and was announced by both teams on Tuesday. The timing means that the Wolves cannot aggregate Prince (and his expiring $15 million contract) in a trade with another player.

While shipping out Rubio’s salary and getting back cash from the Cavs helps the Wolves in terms of current cap space, it also complicates the idea of pulling off any significant trades in the coming days and weeks.

That implies that the Timberwolves’ current cap space of just shy of $10 million is more likely to be used in free agency than it would be in a trade. To be clear, it’s still far from impossible for the Wolves to pull off a deal, but any pieces of significance involved would almost certainly have to be salaries to the level of a Malik Beasley or a D’Angelo Russell.

The other layer to this is roster balance.

With Rubio gone and McLaughlin a restricted free agent, Russell is the only point guard on the roster. While Prince can play both forward spots, there is certainly positional overlap between the newcomer and the Wolves’ other restricted free agent in Vanderbilt.

While the trade market and the remaining attainable free agents will dictate what the Timberwolves do with Vanderbilt and McLaughlin, the above factors absolutely play into the equation.

Let’s take a look at each player individually and attempt to deduce whether or not one or both of them could be back in a Wolves uniform this fall.