Timberwolves set a course as NBA free agency starts Friday

Most of the offseason talk surrounding the Timberwolves has centered on the luxury tax crunch they will face a season from now. Around the NBA, people wonder whether the Wolves would be open to dealing center Karl-Anthony Towns.

But indications from the front office have been that the Wolves intend to keep the same starting lineup they barely saw play together last season, because of trades and injuries, into this season. So before the Wolves get to a perilous financial situation during the 2024 offseason, they have to finish putting together next season's roster, with free agency beginning Friday night.

The Wolves answered two questions by re-signing Naz Reid to a three-year deal worth $42 million Sunday and waiving forward Taurean Prince on Wednesday.

Assuming there is no franchise-altering trade of Towns or anyone else, the Wolves have seven of their expected top minutes-getters signed already for next season: Rudy Gobert, Anthony Edwards, Mike Conley, Jaden McDaniels, Kyle Anderson, Towns and Reid.

There were more decisions regarding impending restricted free agents and guaranteeing a few contracts for the rest of the roster.

Chief among those, the Wolves declined to tender a qualifying offer of just over $7 million to guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, making him an unrestricted free agent. But that doesn't mean Alexander-Walker's days with the Wolves are over. Alexander-Walker, who came to the team via trade in February, was their best perimeter defender in the playoffs after McDaniels broke his hand on the final day of the regular season, and both sides were hopeful then a longer-term deal could get done. Alexander-Walker said multiple times late in the season how grateful he was to have landed in Minnesota where the team was helping to maximize his abilities and had given him a consistent role.

By not giving Alexander-Walker a qualifying offer, the Wolves are likely hoping to sign him to multiple years for less money per year than the qualifying offer was worth. But it's a gamble, as the Wolves now do not have the rights to match any offers Alexander-Walker gets elsewhere.

Or, it could signal the Wolves are trying to maximize the full value of their mid-level exception (a little more than $12 million) and find a bigger name in free agency while rounding out the rest of the roster with minimum contracts or smaller deals. Yahoo Sports recently reported they may have interest in Denver guard Bruce Brown and Golden State's Donte DiVincenzo.

The Wolves did tender two-way offers to Matt Ryan and Luka Garza, making them restricted free agents.

The Wolves also must decide whether to guarantee point guard Jordan McLaughlin's contract for next season at $2.32 million along with forward/center Nathan Knight at just under $2 million.

Headed into free agency, the Wolves stand at 11 players locked under contract, if you include their two most recent draft picks in the count. That means they have up to four roster spots (and three two-way slots) to fill and around $17.5 million in space below the luxury tax to do so.

But the Wolves are unlikely to use every cent they have available below the $165 million luxury tax threshold because they'd like to maintain flexibility to make in-season moves, like signing other free agents that come available or taking back more money than they send out in a trade.

The Wolves have a need for backup point guards, and so bringing McLaughlin back on his relatively inexpensive deal is a possibility.

In moves beyond the immediate future, the Wolves will be able to sign Edwards and McDaniels to lucrative extensions this offseason. Edwards is set to receive a maximum contract, which will pay him upward of $35 million beginning in the 2024-25 season, and could increase if he makes the All-NBA team this season.

There figures to be no drama in Edwards signing that deal once he is able to, as early as late Friday or early Saturday morning. McDaniels could land a deal that pays him in the neighborhood of $20-25 million per season as one of the best young defenders and two-way players in the league. Combine those deals with the jump in salary for Towns, whose salary goes from $36 million to $50 million, and the Wolves have salary issues on their hands next offseason to avoid the so-called "second apron" and the roster-building penalties that come along with it, like inability to use midlevel exceptions or trade future picks.

But they seem content to deal with the problem when it arises.