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On Wednesday evening, the Minnesota Timberwolves' season came to an end with a blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. The loss brought to an end what had been an unexpectedly successful playoff run for Minnesota, who lost in Game 5 of the conference finals for the second straight year.
The Timberwolves now have some big decisions to make this offseason, including regarding the contract of backup big man Naz Reid, who has a player option for the 2025-26 season.
Recently, Timberwolves insider Dane Moore broke down what Reid's mindset was on this in the immediate aftermath of the Thunder loss.
“Naz Reid said he wants to return to Minnesota in free agency, but says there are things to figure out there,” reported Moore on X, formerly Twitter. “Asked specifically if both Gobert and Randle are also back and he’s a 6th man again if he would still be interested in staying, Reid said, ‘I’m not completely ruling it out (again being a 6th man).'”
Moore also reported that “Reid did say he views himself as a starter in the NBA.”
A rough series for Naz Reid
Naz Reid didn't exactly make a convincing case for getting paid top dollar with his performance against the Thunder in this series.
Reid constantly found himself unable to dribble the ball cleanly against Oklahoma City's elite defense, and he also wasn't able to launch threes with any room to operate or punish smaller defenders in the post.
Still, Reid's combination of size and shooting will likely make him an attractive name on the free agent market, and it remains to be seen whether the Timberwolves would want to invest that money elsewhere, considering that they already have Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert in their frontcourt.
It's a bit unclear at this point how the Timberwolves can get themselves on the level of teams like Oklahoma City. One aspect will be continued growth and maturation from Anthony Edwards, and there's optimism that young players like Terrence Shannon and Rob Dillingham may be able to contribute more next year.
In any case, it's going to be an interesting offseason in Minnesota.
