Minnesota: This Summer’s Free Agent Hot Spot?

Now that the Minnesota Timberwolves are receiving some national media attention, will they be able to attract high-end free agents?

This offseason will be the most important in recent memory for the Minnesota Timberwolves. They are on their way to building a contender. They have the cornerstone pieces in place.

Back to back Rookie of the Year award winners, and multiple other pieces that fit together well. Now they have hired a coach with a winning pedigree in Tom Thibodeau. They also have the fifth draft pick in the upcoming NBA Draft Lottery. They have the cap space to sign a quality free agent. If this team is run correctly, they could become a contender sooner than later.

Beyond the upcoming draft, the Timberwolves will look to add a key piece or two through the free agent market. In the past, Minnesota has been a tough sell for free agents. Cold weather and no winning pedigree have been reasons why free agents have not come around. With the cornerstone players in place and Karl-Anthony Towns posting such a phenomenal rookie campaign and taking the NBA by storm, the free agent pitch should be a little easier.

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The modern NBA has changed in compared to recent years. Players are starting to put winning as the priority over the location. Money is always a top priority, and the Timberwolves will have plenty of cap space. As we saw last year in the free agency period, Greg Monroe signed with Milwaukee, choosing to take the opportunity to play with an up and coming, talented, young team over the location. Players spend half of the season on the road anyways.

My thought is that the Timberwolves draft a strong outside shooter in the upcoming NBA draft, and go after a stretch four in free agency, and possibly a backup point guard. There are a lot of options out there. Of course, the Timberwolves should through a max deal at Durant, even if that is a stretch to happen. Other good fits would be players like Al Horford, who would be a nice piece across from Towns. Nicolas Batum, Ryan Anderson, and Luol Deng could all play stretch four and are free agents this year.

Overspending should be something the team should avoid. We should not be overspending just to get players to favor signing with us. The Timberwolves are going to have to be planning early on how to keep their young core together. Can the season just start already?!