Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly has never acted like a front-office executive content to wait around for the perfect deal to find him. Minnesota’s run of big swings already made that clear, from the Rudy Gobert trade months into his Wolves tenure in 2022 to the LaMelo Ball trade this summer. Adding Jonathan Kuminga only reinforces the same point in a different way.
Connelly admitted during Kuminga’s introductory press conference that Minnesota did not begin the process feeling confident it would land him.
"With Jonathan, when we started the process, quite frankly, we weren't too optimistic, Connelly said. "We thought he'd be a perfect fit, not just his age and athleticism, but his two-way ability and again how much winning he's seen... We were fortunate that what we were talking about was shared by Aaron (Turner) and Jonathan, his team, and they saw the same vision."
That initial doubt made sense. The Timberwolves had to create room to even open up the taxpayer mid-level exception, and even then Kuminga had more lucrative options sitting on the table, including from teams with winning reputations like the Los Angeles Lakers. None of that stopped Connelly from pushing hard anyway.
Minnesota went after Kuminga with a level of urgency that most teams simply wouldn’t bother with in that cap spot. Connelly met with Kuminga and his camp in Miami for several hours, stayed in regular contact with Anthony Edwards and other players, and kept talking with Chris Finch, part owner Alex Rodriguez, and others inside the organization. That full-court press mattered, and it helped convince Kuminga to take less money and sign with the Timberwolves.
The part that stands out is how unusual that kind of effort is. Free agents do not always get that level of direct involvement from so many corners of an organization. Edwards deserves plenty of credit in the process, but Connelly’s willingness to chase the move all the way through is the bigger story here.
This wasn’t the same kind of aggressive move as shipping out future assets, but it still says plenty about Connelly’s approach. He is clearly willing to keep pressing for upgrades if he thinks the fit is right, even when the odds don’t look great at the start.
That mindset has come with its share of misses. Connelly has taken heat for trading up for Rob Dillingham, trading Karl-Anthony Towns, and letting Nickeil Alexander-Walker leave.
Those decisions have given him plenty of critics. But he has also shown a knack for bouncing back after the swings that don’t land cleanly.
Trading for Ayo Dosunmu helped the Wolves recover from both the Dillingham and Alexander-Walker situations. The team later found its co-star with Ball two years after the KAT trade while also adding depth. And the Gobert deal already changed the trajectory of the franchise, helping Minnesota reach two conference finals and speeding up the timeline around Ant.
That’s the larger point here: teams that actually win it all usually keep swinging. The source points to the New York Knicks’ championship run, with trades for Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Josh Hart helping get them there. It also points to the 2024 Boston Celtics, who traded for Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, and Al Horford, with the first two moves coming in the 2023 offseason.
Connelly’s latest aggressive move fits right into that pattern. With Ball and now Kuminga, the Timberwolves may have put themselves in position for a championship-level jump. And if one of these big bets goes sideways, Connelly has already shown he’s willing to keep working until the roster is back on track.
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Timberwolves Face An Expensive Question Around Anthony Edwards And Rudy Gobert
Minnesotas long-term roster picture is already taking shape, and the core is crowded with major names. LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Ayo Dosunmu, Jonathan Kuminga, Rudy Gobert and Donte DiVincenzo are all part of the mix, with only minor expected additions left as the 2026-27 group comes into view. Even with the lineup mostly mapped out, the more pressing work is less about filling spots and more about deciding how far the front office wants to go to keep this version of the team intact.
The financial part of that equation is where things get tricky. The Timberwolves are staring at luxury-tax pressure while contract decisions begin to pile up around the leagues most important piece, Edwards, and the veteran anchor in Gobert. Minnesota has to navigate those negotiations without losing flexibility, because the next round of extensions and options could shape not just the roster, but the franchises spending structure for years to come. [Read more 🡒]
Jonathan Kuminga Just Gave Timberwolves Fans A Reason To Believe
Jonathan Kumingas first day with the Timberwolves was less about flash and more about fit. In his introductory press conference, the veteran forward made defense the center of his pitch, saying he wants to improve in that area as he enters his sixth NBA season and arrives in Minnesota with a new opportunity to carve out a role. For a team that has built its identity on toughness and length, that kind of message lands the right way.
Kuminga also pointed to the value of learning from teammates such as Jaden McDaniels, which fits neatly with a roster that has plenty to teach on that end of the floor. He comes from Golden State with championship experience, but this stop feels different in one key way: the defensive growth he said hes chasing now sounds a lot more central to who he wants to be next. [Read more 🡒]
Terrence Shannon Jr. Faces A Tough Timberwolves Role Crunch
Terrence Shannon Jr. gave the Timberwolves a useful glimpse of what he can become last season, especially in the closing stretch when his confidence and activity started to show through. But Minnesotas offseason changes have made the path to more on-ball responsibility a lot less straightforward, with the team adding more creators and handlers into a backcourt that already needed careful sorting out.
Ayo Dosunmu, LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga all bring more playmaking to the mix, and that can push Shannon into a narrower lane if the rotation settles the way it looks on paper. For a player whose best traits come when he can attack with the ball and make quick decisions in space, the concern is that he may spend more time as a spacer than a secondary creator, which is a very different job than the one that helped him flash late last season. [Read more 🡒]