The cherry on top of an otherworldly offseason has finally happened. After a whirlwind of rumors, the Minnesota Timberwolves finally found their power forward solution, signing Jonathan Kuminga to a two-year, $12.4 million deal with a player option in the second year.
While there are some salary question marks still to be worked out (the Wolves are currently over the second apron, thus an additional move needs to be made), the Wolves signed the best free agent available, and they did so with him choosing less money to sign with Minnesota. Times are changing in the Twin Cities.
Kuminga makes the Wolves a tier-1 contender for a championship
Top to bottom, I would say this is the most talented roster in franchise history. This Wolves team is loaded from top to bottom. As of today, their playoff rotation going into next season would be LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Kuminga, and Rudy Gobert starting. The mainstays off the bench would be Ayo Dosunmu, Joan Beringer, Terrence Shannon Jr., and Donte DiVincenzo (when healthy). This makes the Timberwolves a complete team at every position and enough talent to compete with anyone.
I understand Kuminga isn't a perfect player, and there are some perfectly valid ball-stopping and floor-spacing concerns. However, the Wolves also have such a well-constructed roster that those concerns should be mitigated.
He'll be between two world-class defenders, Gobert and McDaniels, and the Wolves' guard tandem is two of the league's most effective volume 3-point shooters. If Kuminga does his job as an active cutter, rebounder, and respectable floor spacer, he will thrive on this team.
I see Kuminga as a player similar to Miles Bridges. Back when Ball was in Charlotte with Bridges, they thrived as a duo, particularly in transition. Combining Ball's elite playmaking with Bridges' and now Kuminga's freak athleticism is going to lead to easy transition buckets and a whole lot of SportsCenter top-10 plays.
Last years roster compared to this years is night and day
Last year, the Wolves had DiVincenzo and Julius Randle starting, with guys like Mike Conley, Kyle Anderson, and Naz Reid all being key contributors off the bench. Now the Wolves are replacing Donte with LaMelo Ball, a much more natural point guard. Donte will also have a sizeable role off the bench once he returns from injury.
They are then replacing Randle with Kuminga, which, from a pure talent standpoint, might be a slight downgrade, but the age, contract, and overall fit of Kuminga make him much more valuable to the Wolves than Randle was. Ayo Dosunmu will now be the Wolves' sixth man, and Joan Beringer will earn a bigger role in the rotation.
Last season, it always felt clunky and disorganized, and it truly never felt like the Wolves had a championship ceiling. This year, the vibe is much different. The Wolves will be firmly in the mix for a championship, and this move to get Kuminga was the final piece for that.
Add us as a preferred source on Google