While the Minnesota Timberwolves' trade deadline ended in excitement as they pulled off a move for Ayo Dosunmu, the other clear theme was saving money. Mike Conley was salary-dumped for the Wolves to get out of the first tax apron before they traded for Ayo. Of course, the irony is that Conley is being brought back on a cheaper deal after he was traded twice and ultimately bought out.
Nevertheless, it's clear that saving money will be a theme going forward. This isn't just specific to the Wolves, either, as after the trade deadline, just three teams (the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Cleveland Cavaliers) remained in one of the tax aprons. Teams around the league dread the lack of flexibility from these aprons.
Among other roster building restrictions, first apron teams must salary match in trades, while second apron teams are unable to aggregate salaries and trade future draft picks. Additionally, it skyrockets the owner's tax bill, and punishments for repeat offenders (particularly in the second apron) are even more severe.
The point is, you really don't want to be in one of these aprons, especially the second apron.
The aprons will continue to force the Wolves to make tough decisions
Since the Wolves were a second apron team last season, they must avoid it over the next three seasons. Mission accomplished this season, but expect finances to be a big focus point for the foreseeable future. Balancing keeping the books clean with building a title contender is inherently tricky, though.
Anthony Edwards' rookie max contract will go up each season until 2028-2029 and at some point, he will need another extension. Along with Edwards, the Wolves have four other players making $20-plus million annually, and Donte DiVincenzo is due for a contract extension. Furthermore, Dosunmu is a free agent this summer.
We already saw that the Wolves' lack of financial wiggle room hurt their ability to re-sign Nickeil Alexander-Walker. The unfortunate reality is that these types of moves will likely become more normal.
To re-sign Dosunmu this summer, the Wolves might move off one of their bigger salaries. But can the Wolves do this without hurting their title chances? And if the Wolves want to chase a star this summer (or later in the future), would they be able to field a competent bench? I can't give you a firm answer, but I do know that it will be really difficult.Â
While the cap will continue to increase, the Wolves' high top-end salaries will be a clear hindrance, and it's clear that no team wants to be stuck in one of the aprons.
There will be plenty of uncertainty about the Wolves' cap situation for the foreseeable future. However, it's hard not to trust Tim Connelly, who has routinely proven to make amazing and unexpected moves.