The Minnesota Timberwolves spent all of last season living with a financial subplot to their otherwise brilliant season.
“What are they going to do next summer, when extensions kick in for Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Karl-Anthony Towns?”
As Towns is now setting screens for Jalen Brunson in New York, we all came to know the answer. The Wolves decided to opt for the path of financial flexibility, acquiring Julius Randle, who will enter next summer with a player option, and Donte DiVincenzo, one of the best contracts currently in the NBA.
You’d think that’d be the end of it. Guess again.
The Wolves are, once again, staring at a summer that could force major change, this time with a player who has captured the imagination of Wolves fans: Naz Reid.
The 6-foot-9 Reid has become a favorite, cemented by fans getting his name tattooed on their bodies and his name being used as an argument for just how good he is. It’s not uncommon to see signs in the crowd at Timberwolves games that simply read “Naz Reid,” an almost elegant simplicity grounded in the fact that his effective game has found a direct way into the hearts of Timberwolves supporters.
Reid, who won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award last season, is a highly competent scorer who netted 13.5 points in just 24.6 minutes per game, while offering a legitimate floor-spacing component (41.4% on five 3-point attempts per game) in Minnesota’s run to the Western Conference finals.
So, why would Minnesota possibly let a player like Reid go?
If it had any control of the situation, it wouldn’t. But unfortunately for the Timberwolves, they’re left stranded due to CBA regulations that limit veteran extensions to 140% of the last salaried year – a percentage Reid is extremely unlikely to agree to, considering a new extension would start at just $21 million based on his salary of $15 million next season, when he becomes extension eligible.
(The 140% veteran extension limit, for good measure, does allow for teams to choose the highest amount between 140% of the last salaried year, or 140% of the league-wide average salary, but neither should be enough to entice Reid.)
In fairness, the Wolves can keep Reid next summer, even if he opts out of his last year and the aforementioned $15 million. They have his Bird Rights and could get him back on whatever deal they wish, but he’d enter unrestricted free agency, which automatically means he becomes a flight risk.
Given that the Wolves cannot even offer him an extension until June 25, 2025, it’d be absolutely shocking if Reid did not enter free agency.
Would Reid agree to return to the Wolves if a team competing for his services offered him more money and a chance to start, while the Wolves try to sell him on a future where he plays behind Randle and Rudy Gobert?
That’s a question only Reid can answer, and perhaps he loves Minnesota enough to do just that. Stranger things have happened. But no matter how the pizza is sliced, there is considerable risk involved in letting him reach unrestricted free agency.
Does that mean the organization will be looking to move him before the February trade deadline to get something back in return? It’s unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility, especially if the franchise’s read of the situation indicates Reid is leaning toward going somewhere he can start and establish himself as a potential star.
Of course, the Reid situation underlines a larger problem, one not specific to the Wolves.
The 140% extension limit actively penalizes teams that negotiate well, and it’s hurting both teams and players.
Let’s go 408 miles southeast from the Target Center to the United Center in Chicago, where the Bulls are finding themselves in a similarly tough situation.
The organization gave new deals to both Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu in the summer of 2023, which were both extremely team-friendly. As a result, White stands to earn just $12 million this season, and Dosunmu $7 million.
White is a borderline All-Star, and Dosunmu would start on several teams around the league, meaning they’re underpaid.
The Bulls could offer both 140% of the league’s average salary, of which only Dosunmu might consider, but it remains an offer that comes with a fairly set ceiling. If Dosunmu plays the entire 2024-2025 season like he wrapped last year, averaging 16.3 points and 4.4 assists on a 52/43/83 slash-line, he, too, will assuredly seek money that exceeds what the Bulls can offer on an extension.
The Bulls can wait it out and allow both to enter unrestricted free agency, which for White and Dosunmu will be in 2026, to offer them major deals. But given how Chicago has been a mediocre franchise over the past decade, both players could leave.
Once again, this problem can be traced back to the 140% rule, which under the old CBA sat at 120%. The percentage increase was so marginal, that only one All-Star caliber player, Dejounte Murray, has signed an extension under the new rule. That extension, $120 million over four years, was broadly viewed as being below his market value.
The 140% limit isn’t helping teams and isn’t helping players.
The Wolves and Bulls would unquestionably love to have the option to extend their players and not risk them entering free agency.
Players would love to have long-term financial stability based off their market values.
It seems curious that both the players association and the owners actively increased the extension limit, yet never realized how the problem would persist. The salary cap is on the threshold of exploding 10% annually due to the new TV deal, with even supermax contracts taking up a smaller cap percentage year-by-year.
When asked about whether team owners and the players association could get together to amend the CBA, NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum told Yahoo Sports that such a scenario would technically be possible.
“We are always evaluating the impact and the result. The rules we put into place, does it have the intended impact? And in some particular cases we will revisit and we will look at it, and as long as the owners and the players agree to making an adjustment, to making a change, we can do that,” Tatum said.
To the point of whether the 140% extension limit specifically is under consideration for a change, Tatum said it’s a conversation that’s yet to be had.
“In this particular case, we haven’t had that conversation yet, but we’re continuing to assess it, and analyze it, and if we feel that a change is necessary, then we will make a change subject to agreement on both sides,” Tatum said.
Ultimately, 140% was never going to be a high enough number for both parties to benefit, especially when dealing with players that level up during the life of their non-rookie contracts, and until the players association and team owners realize their shared problem and deal with it, we’re going to see a lot of players, and a lot of teams, find themselves in precarious situations, some of which will lead to unnecessary trades.