NBA Rumors: Naz Reid to Lakers? Timberwolves can respond in 3 ways

III: Win the bidding war for Naz Raid

The objective of all of the latest rumored interest in Minnesota Timberwolves free agent center Naz Reid is to drive his price up. Driving up his price is exactly what Naz Reid wants to happen. A more costly contract for Naz Reid, a more generous agent’s commission from that contract. That/s simply how business is handled in the NBA.

So if the Minnesota Timberwolves truly want Naz Reid at any cost, the team simply needs to outbid every other NBA team that is interested in his services. It’s that simple. Only it’s not. Here’s why:

Who will start the bid?

Each NBA team vying for Naz Reid’s services has multiple options on their roster board, and in order to do their job, the personnel department knows what the fair market value of all of their options should be. So it’s not just a matter for the Minnesota Timberwolves to ‘Pay the man,’ because money spent on Naz Reid could come at the expense of any offer to extend shooting guard Anthony Edwards and/or small forward Jaden McDaniels.

So the Timberwolves have a budget for Reid, an amount in their head that they will not exceed. And that is where everything gets quite tricky for the Timberwolves.  You see, Naz Reid wants to be a starting NBA center in 2023-24, a role that immediately drives up his value. The Timberwolves only have a rotational center role on their roster currently. That will almost certainly limit how much the team is willing to spend on him.

So all hope is lost?  Well, not just yet. The Minnesota Timberwolves have incredible leverage over the future of Naz Reid. Shall I explain?