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The Minnesota Timberwolves are walking on thin ice, financially-speaking. They rank second in the entire NBA in active payroll, only trailing the Phoenix Suns, and they have blown past the second tax apron to keep their core together. But the Timberwolves will have to face some very difficult roster-building questions soon, as both Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid can enter free agency at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season.
For what it's worth, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who could also opt out of his contract at the end of the upcoming season, told Darren ‘Doogie’ Wolfson at the Minnesota State Fair that he intends to keep the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in Minnesota for as long as he could.
“We would like Rudy to be here for a really long time. We love his agent, he’s been our friend for a long time and one of the best guys in the League. Certainly, our goal with most of these guys is keeping them as long as they want to be here and everyone’s very happy. So ideally, continuity is one of the better strengths we’re gonna have going into this season, and we really like our core group,” Connelly said, via HoopsHype.
Rudy Gobert is set to make $43.8 million this season, and he has a player option worth $46.7 million for the 2025-26 campaign. The four-time DPOY will be 33 years of age by the time he reaches free agency, so provided he has a solid 24-25 season for the Timberwolves, he may be likely to head to free agency in search of one last big contract.
It's unclear just how much appetite the Timberwolves' ownership has in shelling out top dollar for their current core of players, especially if they end up not improving upon last year's Western Conference Finals finish. Minnesota has to keep in mind that Naz Reid, who is likely to decline his $15 million option for the 2025-26 season, is due for a huge raise as well. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, a crucial rotation piece, is also in line for a bigger payday.
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This just highlights how big of an urgent matter it is for the Timberwolves to capitalize on their current window of championship contention, as they will be very stretched financially in the coming seasons.
Is Rudy Gobert worth a huge contract extension for the Timberwolves?
Continuity-wise, it's hard for Tim Connelly and the Timberwolves to just give up on Rudy Gobert and allow him to walk for nothing in free agency. Gobert has improved the team's defense tenfold, with the Timberwolves having the personnel on the perimeter that has accentuated the impact of the French center's lockdown paint defense.
But it is fair to wonder just how high a team's ceiling is if Gobert is one of their highest-paid players. He is so limited offensively that some matchups in the playoffs can be backbreaking. The 2021 Los Angeles Clippers stretched Gobert beyond his limit, brazenly going small as they did not fear his paint offense whatsoever, and then the 2024 Dallas Mavericks made a concerted effort to either pull him out of the paint or confuse him on dribble penetration, allowing Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving to either feast on easy buckets or set up teammates for easy lobs.
Make no mistake about it, Gobert is one of the best rim protectors of all time and is an incredible center to build a team's defense around. But the jury is still out on him surviving four rounds in the playoffs due to his stringent offensive limitations.
