Despite having one of the younger franchise players in the NBA, the Minnesota Timberwolves in the previous couple of years have been one of the older and rather sluggish teams in the NBA. Their young core outside of Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, and Naz Reid was rather unproven.
Now they not only have a revamped roster, but also a roster that is one of the youngest in the NBA. Only two of the players on their roster are over 30 years old. In the last couple of seasons, having an extremely youthful rotation was fairly unheard of, especially for a team that's positioned to compete for a title.
Tim Connelly said that trading for LaMelo Ball not only helped fit the needs of the roster, but it also helped lengthen the timeline of the team, and this assessment is absolutely spot on.
"We'd only make a deal if it not only helped us now, but in the long term. We think the age-appropriateness of LaMelo with this young core will fit very well," Connelly said.
Tim Connelly extended the Timberwolves' title window this offseason
Last season, a sizable chunk of the Wolves' rotation was above the age of 30. Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, Mike Conley, Kyle Anderson, and Joe Ingles (wasn't much of a rotational player) were all on the roster. Now, only Gobert out of that group is still with the team.
The Wolves' core now blends perfectly with each other, both age-wise and fit-wise. Ball and Edwards both just turned 25 years old; McDaniels just turned 26; Ayo Dosunmu is 26; Jonathan Kuminga is 23 years old; Terrence Shannon Jr. is 26; Bones Hyland is 26, and Jaylen Clark is 24. That's the majority of the rotation, all within a three-year age range, which is extremely impressive front-office building.
The only other guys are Donte DiVincenzo, who's 29, and Joan Beringer and Isaiah Evans, who are 19 and 20, respectively. The way Connelly was able to not only exponentially raise the ceiling of the roster, but also lower the average age and build a more sustainable foundation designed to maximize his best player was stuff that the best executives in the league do.
While getting on Ant's timeline was a theme throughout the offseason, the LaMelo trade is what defines this goal. Even if they traded a lot of their picks, having a 26-and-under core is a massive advantage.
The Wolves relied on too many players last season who either didn't fit the ideal structure of the roster or were over-the-hill. Now, looking ahead to the following season, the team possesses an amount of youthfulness surrounding Anthony Edwards that he hasn't had since the team was rebuilding in his rookie year; except this time, they have a young core ready to compete for championships.
Overall, the Timberwolves' offseason of changes put them in a great spot to succeed both now and in the future, which is ultimately the goal of team-building.
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