Minnesota Timberwolves must use 2023 cap space now

Pay them now, or pay them later?

That is one of the pitfalls for teams with future cap space and something that the Minnesota Timberwolves should take note of now.  Teams who plan to shop the NBA Free Agency Market are subjected to the quality of the free-agent class at the time, for better or worse. And attracting the top talent in the NBA is not just cutting big checks, but creating a relationship and environment that will attract top talent.

The New York Knicks confronted that issue in the 2021 offseason, and are a great example of this limitation. They used their max cap space to sign Evan Fournier, Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, Nerlens Noel, Kemba Walker, and Taj Gibson….which was pretty underwhelming, to say the least.

It doesn’t seem like there are any obvious 2023 big-name free agents lining up for the Timberwolves who would even make the least bit of sense to acquire. The last thing that the team’s front office should do with their 2023 cap space is to overpay for role players instead of making a significant roster improvement by signing a top-tier NBA talent.

Passive roster-building often fails in the NBA

That was something that the Knicks simply did not do last summer. The Minnesota Timberwolves have a history of struggling in the NBA free agency market.  Things become far more complicated and risky if the Timberwolves make bad personnel decisions next year.

The team would be better off leveraging their assets this offseason to upgrade the roster via trades. The Timberwolves have been linked in multiple trade rumors, which is a sign that the team is currently in the mix.  Hopefully, the team is at least considering making a big move this offseason rather than waiting to use cap space next season on whoever enters free agency. It will be interesting to see how things play out, but hopefully, the Timberwolves are not complacent this offseason with the hope of using lots of cap space next season. That strategy simply will not work.