Sachin Gupta will leave Timberwolves’ front office

Sachin Gupta, the Timberwolves’ executive vice president of basketball operations, is leaving the team to take a position in the English Premier League with soccer powerhouse Chelsea FC.

Gupta had been with the Wolves since 2019 when he came to the organization as the No. 2 under then-President Gersson Rosas. He served as the interim head of basketball operations for the 2021-22 season after Rosas was fired and before the team hired Tim Connelly for the same role in May 2022. Under Gupta’s leadership that season, the team reached the playoffs for the first time since 2018.

An NBA source confirmed the move.

For the past two seasons, Gupta remained with the team and oversaw the analytics department under Connelly as the Wolves reached the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2004. He is known for his nuanced knowledge of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement and ability to make creative trades. Gupta helped the Wolves engineer a four-team trade in his first season that netted the team Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Juancho Hernangomez and a first-round pick for Robert Covington and other players. That first-round pick they received in the deal eventually became forward Jaden McDaniels in that summer’s draft.

In February 2024, Gupta reported to police that a disgruntled employee at the Wolves facility had stolen a hard drive that contained personal and private information. That former employee, Somak Sarkar, was sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty to a gross misdemeanor count of unauthorized computer access.

The Wolves have also recently promoted Matt Lloyd to general manager, making him Connelly’s top lieutenant.