Do the Minnesota Timberwolves need to dump salary?

We know that the Minnesota Timberwolves have exhausted the majority of their NBA Draft picks, insofar as they have traded four upcoming first-round picks to the Utah Jazz, plus players, for All-Star center Rudy Gobert. But the Timberwolves have also exhausted their cash, opting to sign players to the Timberwolves roster in such a fashion as to leave no money laying around for a rainy day.

The question is, with the Minnesota Timberwolves sitting at 20-21 at the midseason mark, have stormclouds rolled in over Target Center? Are the Minnesota Timberwolves stuck with a bad contract? After all, there are two teams right now who have the capacity to take on additional dollars of an unfriendly contract, for draft pick compensation. Those two teams are the San Antonio Spurs and the Indiana Pacers.

It’s clear that the Minnesota Timberwolves have a plan in place for All-Star center Rudy Gobert and that plan covers several years. The Timberwolves likely have the same plan for PF/C Karl-Anthony Towns and for SG Anthony Edwards. But how comfortable is this team at letting it ride on the $31+ million being shelled out to PG D’Angelo Russell right now?

That’s a tough read, because if the Timberwolves wanted to retain Russell for several more years, the team has had the opportunity to do so, and lower the average cost of Russell at the same time. But if the team is ready to part ways with Russell, there have been and continue to be rumors of interest from other teams, eager to upgrade their backcourt situation. The Timberwolves could subsequently, move to add a far less expensive point guard to the roster.

Because the Minnesota Timberwolves’ salary is invested heavily in just three players, and two of those three are core players, with the third on an expiring contract, don’t look for the Minnesota Timberwolves to dump any salaries this season.

But no promises for this time next year.