The Minnesota Timberwolves have a lot of backroom drama brewing with the ownership dispute between the camps of Glen Taylor and the duo of Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore. But if there's one thing that both sides are understanding is how important it is to keep the key personnel in place, particularly their President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly.
Connelly worked his way up the NBA ladder, spending back office stints with the Washington Wizards and New Orleans Hornets before getting his big break with the Denver Nuggets. He spent nine years with the Colorado franchise, building the core that won the 2023 NBA Championship, before becoming the President of Basketball Operations for the Timberwolves in 2022.
Tim Connelly to get pay raise to keep in pace with rising executive salaries
Tim Connelly is expected to get a pay raise to keep within pace of other higher-paying jobs, with Timberwolves ownership aware of their executive's stock rising around the league, according to NBA insider Shams Charania, via FanDuel TV's Run It Back.
“Tim Connelly has an opt-out in his contract, he has days to make a decision on his option. The expectation around this league, I'm told, is that Tim Connelly will end up in a restructured…renegotiated deal,” said Charania.
“Whether its Glen Tayor or Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, they understand his [Connelly's] market value has gone up. He helped architect the team that won it in Denver, then this team in Minnesota becomes a championship contender,” added Charania. “His deal is at $8 million per season. You look around the league and all the top-tier general managers and executives that are leading franchises, that's now between $10 million to $15 million per season for those lead executives. Just like coaching contracts, GM contracts are going up as well.”
Timberwolves must fix off-court issues to match rising on-court product
In the same interview, Shams Charania noted the team's exciting on-court product has already paid dividends with higher ticket sales and TV ratings. However, a legal battle for the team's ownership has taken as much attention as the vastly improved on-court performance.
“They sold out all 41 regular season games this season, a first in Target Center history since 1990. They go from 3,000 season tickets to 11,000 season ticket sales, and their local TV ratings up 150% over the last two years,” Charania said. “This Timberwolves team…[is] clearly on the rise. I don't think they have roster decisions left, but there's a lot behind the scenes they got to figure out.”
The Timberwolves will stand to pay Anthony Edwards his approximately $204.5 million deal up to the 2028-29 season, Karl Anthony-Towns his $221.1 million up to the 2027-28 season, and Rudy Gobert up to $205.0 million through his player option in 2025-26. Jaden McDaniels is also on the books for $131.0 million through 2029.
Should the Timberwolves stand pat with their current roster, it will be the first time under the Glen Taylor ownership that the team will go past the salary cap.
Follow Us
Subscribe