The Minnesota Timberwolves made the best out of a difficult situation when they traded Josh Green to the Utah Jazz on Friday night. After agreeing to terms with Jonathan Kuminga the day before, the Wolves needed to trade or waive Green, as Kuminga’s deal hard-capped them at the second apron after using the mid-level exception. In the end, they came away with two serviceable players, Cody Williams and John Konchar.
However, the Timberwolves opted to waive and stretch Konchar. They still have an open roster spot and $4.5 million in cap space. Now, they can sign another player or enter the year with some financial wiggle room.
For a team that has its eyes on winning a championship, keeping the 30-year-old Konchar seemed like a good idea as a veteran rebounder, defensive disruptor and decision-maker. But if the Wolves felt like they had to choose between one of these players, they made the right decision by sticking with Williams, who could be another young talent who has the upside Minnesota is looking for.
The Wolves gave up John Konchar’s stability for Cody Williams’s upside
Unless they’re League Pass sickos, there’s a good chance that many Wolves fans have never seen Williams play. The 10th overall pick by the Jazz in the 2024 draft, Williams’ stats don’t jump off the page, averaging 8.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while shooting just 46.8 percent from the floor and 21.4 percent on 3-pointers.
By comparison, Konchar would have provided a steadier floor. In seven seasons, Konchar has averaged 4.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. He's a very strong positional rebounder, averaging 8.2 boards per 36 minutes over his career.
With Shooting The Gap also noting that the Wolves would have retained his full Bird Rights – a salary cap exception that allows teams to exceed the soft salary cap to re-sign their own players – it would have made sense to have Konchar be a solid role player on the team and bring him back as a cap-friendly solution next season.
John Konchar turns 31 in March.
— Shooting the Gap (@Shooting_TheGap) August 29, 2026
You would have retained his full Bird Rights to keep him next summer on a team friendly deal if he fit well.
6’5 with 6’8 wingspan, one of the most impactful role players per minute played in the league.
Meanwhile Cody Williams is barely an NBA… https://t.co/eLlCExZ6qK pic.twitter.com/al739rcGFt
While Williams isn’t an established NBA player like Konchar is, he’s also nine years younger, which gives him the type of lottery ticket the Wolves can cash in if he realizes his potential.
Furthermore, despite some of Konchar's positive traits, his lack of shooting (31.7 percent over the past three seasons) would have stopped him from being an important part of the Wolves' rotation. If they so please, the Timberwolves can find another player of Konchar's caliber at the frontcourt (which remains an area of need) to round out their roster.
Keeping Cody Williams is the type of gamble the Timberwolves need
The Wolves have an established roster, which may make it difficult for Williams to crack the rotation. But he’s the type of young talent the Wolves have to get creative to find. Minnesota doesn’t have a first-round pick in the 2027, 2029 or 2031 drafts and the two picks they own are subject to pick swaps in prior trades.
Minnesota has even fewer assets in the second round with no picks in the next three years and a protected pick from Memphis in the 2030 draft.
Year | First-Round Pick | Second-Round Pick |
|---|---|---|
2027 | None (Traded to Jazz) | None (Traded to Blazers) |
2028 | Own pick (Hornets retain pick swap rights) | None (Traded to Nuggets) |
2029 | None (Traded to Jazz) | None (Traded to Hornets) |
2030 | Own pick (Least favorable of Spurs/Mavericks pick swap) | Own Grizzlies pick (protected from No. 31 to No. 50) |
2031 | None (Traded to Spurs) | None (Traded to Bulls) |
With that, the Wolves have to take shots on a player like Williams when he becomes available. At 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot-1 wingspan, he has the size and athleticism to play in Chris Finch’s offense and he also has shown versatility playing defense on the perimeter. Williams also has a knack for slashing and finishing at the rim and has shown potential both in his playmaking and as a spot-up shooter, making 41.5 percent of his 3-pointers during his lone season at Colorado.
While that’s an extremely small sample size, it shows that Williams could have some traits that could make him an effective 3-point shooter in the future despite his slow start in the NBA. As the No. 5 player in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index for the Class of 2023, Williams also has a high ceiling. For what it's worth, he ranked higher than Stephon Castle of the San Antonio Spurs (No. 9) and Jared McCain of the Oklahoma City Thunder (No. 12).
None of this means Williams is destined for stardom. But on a team that already has to find minutes for Jaylen Clark and Terrance Shannon Jr., they can refine his game and turn him into a better player than what Konchar has been at age 30.
It’s the type of risk that president of basketball operations Tim Connelly loves to take, and it’s a reclamation project the Wolves have already executed under Finch.
To get that for a player that teams knew Minnesota had to get rid of, it’s a good bet to make and one that could have a bigger payoff than keeping Konchar.
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