The Timberwolves have locked in one of their lockdown defenders for another season.
Guard Patrick Beverley and the team agreed to a one-year extension Monday worth $13 million, his agent Kevin Bradbury confirmed.
Beverley, 33, came to the Wolves in the final year of his current deal in a trade from Memphis over the summer. Since Beverley joined, his teammates and coaches have credited him with enhancing the culture on defense while providing leadership in the locker room.
"He's a guy that we value greatly, a guy that we want to go forward with," coach Chris Finch said recently. "His leadership has been phenomenal. We knew it was going to be good, it's been even better than expected. His production and play on court has been really, really good. Changes personality on our team in a lot of ways."
Beverley is one of the most vocal Wolves players, whether he's on the court or off. He came to Minnesota and expressed a desire to stick around beyond this year from the start of training camp.
The Wolves always wanted to get a deal done, and that became easier in the wake of a trade deadline in which the Wolves made no moves and had more certainty about their roster situation headed into next season. Beverley was making $14.3 million this season.
His signing is the first significant deal that affects the roster beyond this year made by Executive Vice President Sachin Gupta since he took over the day to day operations for Gersson Rosas in September.
"It's been great here," Beverley said recently. "Especially trying to establish a culture, a winning culture here. … They allowed me to be myself here. Allowed me to do my thing, and that's affected [the team] on and off the court."
