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

If you have been under a rock or off social media for the past two weeks, then let me catch you up. The Minnesota Timberwolves are very much in the hunt to re-sign backup center, Naz Reid. The challenge of how this all will play out is the fact that this is not the same financially flexible and fit Timberwolves team.

That will be especially challenging because the Minnesota Timberwolves clearly will have competition for Naz Reid’s services in the 2023-24 NBA season. And yes, he is very aware of that fact and is doing his part to encourage offers and to drive up the cost of his next contract. It may be simply a staged performance, just showmanship that stirs the pot, the sort of flirtatious banter that players say in a new NBA team’s market that ends up going nowhere.

But the Naz Reid to the Los Angeles Lakers has some legs, and it’s moving pretty rapidly. Just check this out:

Of course, that means that the Los Angeles Lakers fans are already aware and are weighing in on the potential for a Nez Reid addition to the Lakers roster. How far have they gotten? Well, far enough along for the contract price range of a fair market value for Naz Reid’s services to be part of the information shared publicly:

That is the type of information that comes out after preliminary discussions come out. Could the Los Angeles Lakers be seriously in the mix for Naz Reid? I think so. The team made it a point to add nearly all of the players traded to the Utah Jazz for Rudy Gobert to their roster: Patrick Beverley, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt. The Lakers even traded for Timberwolves PG D’Angelo Russell at the trade deadline. Thank you for that, by the way.

While the Minnesota Timberwolves were confident in the fact that re-signing Reid was doable, at this point in time, the Timberwolves have not been able to negotiate a contract with Naz Reid’s team.   So what can the Minnesota Timberwolves do?  At this stage, the Timberwolves have three options. They are?

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?

II: Sign and trade the young NBA future star

The Minnesota Timberwolves control Naz Reid’s Bird Rights, and therefore they have some leverage still over where Reid ends up. What are Bird Rights? Bird Rights, which were created in the early 1980s and were known at the time as the Larry Bird exception, are explained as follows:

"“In 1983, the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) called for the league’s first-ever salary cap, which would limit the cash amount teams could spend on players’ salaries. Rather than institute a ‘hard cap,’ which would strictly prohibit teams from going above a certain salary limit, the NBA chose a “soft cap” with a handful of exceptions. With the contract of Boston Celtics forward Larry Bird expiring at the end of the 1983 season, giving the budding star his first chance to test free agency, the most notable exception to this salary cap was the Qualifying Veterans Free Agent Exception. This ‘Bird’ Exception, as it came to be known, gave free agents Bird Rights to incentivize negotiating with their existing team.” as quoted by Hoops Hype Frank Urbina"

A team gets a player’s full Bird Rights if they spend three years with their team without leaving in free agency.

Bird Rights

Full Bird Rights is a way of giving players and their agents enough financial incentives to re-sign with an NBA team, which is only limited in the amount of the NBA salary cap percentage.  Bird rights can transfer from one team to another, which means that if Naz Reid wants to take advantage of the biggest contract possible in his future, he and his team will work with the Minnesota Timberwolves to align his next contract as a sign-and-trade.

The incentive for Naz Reid is to ensure that he has an opportunity for a big payday if he earns it down the road. The incentive for the Minnesota Timberwolves is that they have a say in where Naz Reid ends up, and get something in return for losing a key contributor. The incentive for the new team is to get a contented Naz Reid and have a say in how his next contract is ultimately constructed.

But a sign-and-trade is similar to a friendly divorce, and truly only has value if teams believe that Naz Reid is an elite player who warrants that much extra effort. Of course, there is always a third option on the table.

I: Cut your losses, sign Luka Garza, and move on

The Minnesota Timberwolves can simply stop negotiations, essentially letting Naz Reid find a new team to play for and focus their energies on addressing their own roster needs at a backup center position. Thankfully, the Timberwolves got a lot of flash potential in their very young backup center Luka Garza, and Minnesota Timberwolves fans would love to see what he might do on the team in a more significant role.

Did the Minnesota Timberwolves miscalculate? After all, the Timberwolves’ did lose their backup center due to a rather serious injury that eliminated him from any chance of competing in the 2023 NBA Playoffs. That meant that, even as Naz Reid’s production improved in the 2022-23 NBA season, he has no performance in the 2023 NBA Playoffs to prove that his performance can handle that increased competition in the postseason.

One more year to gain NBA Playoff experience?

That could all be fixed by a simple contract to return to the Minnesota Timberwolves on a one-year deal, stay healthy, and prove to all the other 29 NBA teams that he won’t wilt in brighter lights and on bigger NBA stages.

Perhaps the Timberwolves were counting on that. And it’s a wise strategy for both the team and Naz Reid to take. But wisdom and common sense are not as common as they used to be. In the modern era, it’s more instant gratification than playing the long game, and Naz Reid may be so focused on starting that he is unwilling to consider other avenues.

The Timberwolves have three options over the intent to sign backup center Naz Reid to an extension. Right now, I have no idea which option the team will take. Some suggest that the only way the Timberwolves retain Naz Reid is to assure him that they will trade away Karl-Anthny Towns this offseason. That doesn’t make a lot of sense, as it means that Reid will be playing the power-forward role for the Timberwolves instead. Which option do you think prevails?