After trading Josh Green for Cody Williams and John Konchar (who was quickly waived), the Minnesota Timberwolves have enough flexibility to sign another player and remain under the second tax apron. This, paired with their limited frontcourt depth, made people speculate that they would indeed get up to 15 rostered players.
However, the Timberwolves could opt not to add a 15th player to avoid further luxury tax payments. Currently, the Timberwolves' estimated tax bill is $23.3 million per Spotrac. Even signing a minimum-contract player could increase their luxury tax bill by $8.5 million.
Why the Timberwolves could enter the season with an open roster spot
And I know what you're thinking: new majority owner Marc Stad should fork over the money. I understand the point, but is having to pay $8.5 million more in luxury tax payments worth it for a player who will likely just sit on the bench? That's the question the Timberwolves need to ask. Even if it would be nice to have an extra frontcourt bench player, the juice might not be worth the squeeze.
Moreover, by all accounts, Stad is on board with spending big and helping the Timberwolves build a title winner. He showed that by signing Jonathan Kuminga. Let's not forget, many owners aren't okay with dipping into the luxury tax at all.
In this case, signing a 15th player likely won't impact Minnesota's title chances, and thus it isn't practical to spend that much extra money on. Entering the season with an open roster spot has become commonplace in the apron era, and we saw the Timberwolves do that last season.
Look, if the Timberwolves opt to sign a 15th player, I won't be complaining, particularly if this player is Kevin Love—that would be an amazing story. Still, I would fully understand why the Timberwolves would determine that signing Love or someone like Drew Eubanks to round out their roster wouldn't be worth the cost.
In addition to ensuring the tax bill doesn't balloon, having an open roster spot ensures some flexibility. If needed, the Timberwolves could take on an extra player in a deadline move, which could help them upgrade their roster.
Another option could be waiting until later in the season to fill this final roster spot. In this case, the Timberwolves could address their frontcourt depth later in the season or sign multiple 10-day contracts across the season to determine who would be the best fit. Nostalgia aside, would there be a big difference between doing this and signing Love now? Probably not.
Again, we are talking about a pure depth piece here. If the Wolves determine that it's a need worth increasing their luxury tax payments, then great, but entering the year with an open roster spot makes perfect sense to me.
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