Minnesota Timberwolves: The 2018 NBA offseason summary and recap
Looking back at what the Minnesota Timberwolves did right and wrong during the 2018 NBA offseason, including the draft and free agency
The Minnesota Timberwolves are coming off of their first postseason appearance since the 2003-04 NBA season. They would be eliminated, however, in five games by the top-seeded Houston Rockets.
After going 47-35 and making the playoffs for the first time in 13 years, it should be a good time to be a Timberwolves fan but the 2018 offseason has not been what Minnesota fans would’ve wanted.
The Timberwolves added shooting guard Josh Okogie and small forward Keita Bates-Diop from the NBA draft. Both of them will be asked to contribute this season.
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Free agency is where things started to get interesting. Rumors began swirling that Jimmy Butler wasn’t happy with the younger players specifically Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Butler is one the games best defenders and he supposedly took offense with how little Wiggins and Towns seemed to care about that end of the court.
Those rumors only got hotter once Butler rejected the teams contract extension offer, but it should be noted that he would make more money by signing a new deal next offseason than to take the extension that was offered.
With the rumors of him being unhappy and wanting to team up with Kyrie Irving, the Timberwolves organization has to do its best to make him happy or they could see him leave via free agency and a player of his talent isn’t replaceable.
As for the team’s outlook for next season, it’s complicated.
On one hand, the team was among the NBA’s best when Butler was healthy and they were the 3-seed at one point but after his injury they fell into a tie for eighth and had to win their final game of the season to make the playoffs.
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The Western Conference got tougher this offseason with several teams improving so Minnesota should have a tougher time this season. Right now the Timberwolves should make the playoffs but the margin for error is slim in the West this year.