Last offseason, the Minnesota Timberwolves had three crucial free agents: Julius Randle, Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. It was clear they wouldn't be able to re-sign all three without dipping into the dreaded second apron for a second straight year. They opted to re-sign Randle and Reid while letting Alexander-Walker depart for the Atlanta Hawks.
At the time, the logic was understandable. Randle was coming off a solid playoffs, Reid is a key part of the core and Alexander-Walker merely looked like a solid role player at a position where the Wolves had young players who were presumably ready for bigger roles.
It looked bad enough for the Wolves when Alexander-Walker won the Most Improved Player award while their young talent didn't scale up. Now it looks even worse with the Wolves' salary-dumping Randle to the Brooklyn Nets and subsequently re-signing Ayo Dosunmu to a five-year $112 million deal.
The Wolves' decision to let Alexander-Walker leave looks truly awful
Minnesota needed to trade for Ayo at the deadline to fill the void left behind by NAW. That's one thing -- signing him to a deal significantly more than Alexander-Walker's four-year $62 million contract, paired with salary-dumping Randle, is a whole other level of embarrassment.
Even if Ayo levels up, it's hard to imagine him reaching the heights that Alexander-Walker did with the Hawks. And even if the Wolves utilize their newfound cap space from the Randle trade to land a big name, it's clear that, in hindsight, they would have been best served not bringing him back last year.
While Minnesota's logic was understandable, there's no denying that last year's offseason has already aged like milk. It was already hard not to wonder "what if" the Wolves opted to re-sign NAW and now it becomes impossible not to think about.
With the need to build a title-winner around Anthony Edwards, the Wolves might have messed up their best chance to do so in large part due to their decisions last offseason.
Other moves can still be made, but there's no denying the Wolves made the wrong call last year and the 2025 offseason might forever haunt the franchise for years to come.
Maybe Alexander-Walker would never have leveled up in Minnesota, but if he did, the Wolves would have the co-star they are searching for alongside Edwards. At the bare minimum, they would have the high-level connective guard that Ayo is for a cheaper cost.
Based on how things have played out, letting Randle walk or figuring out a sign-and-trade for him would have been ideal. The Wolves also could have looked to salary-dump Mike Conley to free up cap space to re-sign NAW.
Whatever way you slice it, the Wolves botched last year's offseason in a major way.
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