Timberwolves in a strong NBA position as dust settles in Western Conference

At the start of the NBA offseason, it was hard to imagine how the Timberwolves could make themselves better given their lack of high draft picks and a looming salary crunch.

For roughly the same price as the contracts of Kyle Anderson and Monte Morris, free agents who departed the Wolves, they added No. 8 pick Rob Dillingham (after a draft night trade with the Spurs), No. 27 pick Terrence Shannon Jr. and veteran Joe Ingles. What they lost in veteran stability and defensive acumen they more than made up for in youthful upside, pace and shot-making ability.

In the process, executive Tim Connelly again proved he is an adept roster-builder. And when evaluating the Wolves’ offseason-to-date in relation to their Western Conference peers, it is clear Minnesota will enter next year as a clear top-four team and realistic contender once again — something I talked about on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast while discussing the Ingles deal.

There is still a lot of offseason left, given that we are less than a week into NBA free agency. Trades and signings can still upend the order in the Western Conference. But consider what has happened:

*The Clippers let Paul George walk in free agency, unwilling to give him a fourth year and leading him to jump to Philadelphia in the East. It might have been the right move given that the George-Kawhi Leonard pairing never quite lived up to hopes, but it clearly diminishes the Clippers’ hopes of being true contenders in the West next year.

*The Nuggets lost key starter Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to Orlando and seem to be relying on youth to fill the gaps in an already thin rotation while facing a salary cap crunch of their own. Denver will always be a contender as long as Nikola Jokic is in his prime, but this isn’t the same team it was two years ago.

*The Warriors let Klay Thompson go as their dynasty continues to fade from sight. The Lakers can’t find the right pieces around two of the (still) best players on the planet, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Pelicans are way over the cap, and their best player (Zion Williamson) can’t be trusted to stay healthy. The Suns are who they are, as the Wolves showed the world.

Next year’s top four in the West at this moment, in no specific order: Oklahoma City, which stole Alex Caruso from the bumbling Bulls and has an enviable mix of win-now talent and future assets; Dallas, which found its footing at last year’s trade deadline and added Thompson this offseason; the aforementioned Nuggets; and the Wolves, who should get an injection of youth to go with the continued ascent of Anthony Edwards.

As Ingles told ESPN after he signed: “When the opportunity came up and you speak more in depth about the basketball side, especially with the stuff I’m saying — you still wanna play, you still wanna compete — it’s a basketball opportunity that was too good to give up.”

Here are four more things to know today:

*Minneapolis native and U.S. Paralympic athlete Chuck Aoki also joined me on Friday’s podcast to talk about the U.S. wheelchair rugby team’s prospects later this summer.

*Plus I talked about a damaging night for the Lynx, who lost to Connecticut and saw star Napheesa Collier leave the game with a foot injury, and the continued steady excellence of the Twins.

*You should definitely read Tony Kennedy’s excellent outdoors profile of Jessica Berg-Collman.

*ESPN wrote about the best and worst cafeterias of NFL teams, which is definitely when you know it’s early July and nothing is happening in the league. The Vikings scored very well, by the way, in nutrition and several other categories in a player survey earlier this year.