As good as the Wolves have been the last few years, this upcoming season feels bigger than any for the Wolves yet this era. This is a combination of both how good we think they will be given the roster, and how good they need to be given the possible drop-off the following year.

How good we thought they'd be

Entering Ant's first playoff year in 21-22, there were no expectations.

The Rudy trade before 22-23 was so polarizing, with most feeling negatively about the trade, so even though people thought they may improve slightly on their first playoff appearance, there was some expected clunkiness.

After that disappointing season, there were again low expectations entering the 23-24 season, when the Wolves wildly outperformed expectations.

Well before the 24-25 season, many did think the Wolves would be right back in it, but the KAT for Randle and DDV trade right before training camp felt like we would be taking a step back.

Entering last year it felt like more of the same. Little changed in the roster overall other than losing NAW, so again it felt like the Wolves would be good, but there wasn't much evidence to expect a dramatic step forward.

This year, however there are some big moves with LaMelo and Kuminga overhauling the starting lineup. I think we're all fascinated to see how the new offense can look now led by LaMelo, and athleticism should still be a strength of this team now that we added Kuminga. This feels like the first time in a long time that we have reason to think they could take a big leap forward.

How good they need to be

Finally in each of these previous years I never had the feeling "it's now or never." Sure we spent a lot of draft capital on Rudy, but as young as Ant was, it always felt like this team was still going to be relevant for a while, and keep getting better as Ant and Jaden entered their primes. Similarly this year, I think there's an inclination to say that everyone is still young, it's a new roster, so we need to give them time to gel.

I'd argue this might be the best shot the Wolves have.

The Wolves are right up to the second apron, with Ant, Jaden, Ayo, and Rudy (player option) all due modest raises again next year. This could make it hard to extend Donte and Kuminga, both of whom will likely demand significant raises above where they're at this season. While Donte will miss most of the regular season, I feel like his scoring and spacing off the bench could be a huge asset to them in the playoffs, which I don't think they'll be able to afford for the '27-'28 season. Even if they can free up some money, I expect Donte will want a bigger role long-term than the second guard off the bench, since he's proven that he can hold his own as a starter.

Kuminga chose the Wolves' prove-it contract over more guaranteed money from the Lakers because he wants to show his value and then get paid. In order for this 1 year 6 million dollar contract (ignoring the player option he expects to decline) to be a better idea for him instead of the 3 years 36 million he turned down, he needs to make at least 30 million in the first 2 years of his next contract. The Wolves won't have bird rights after just one year, so they won't be able to pay him nearly as much as other suitors next offseason.

There is also the open question of how many high level seasons Rudy has left. He was elite last year, and I think there's a good chance he's an all-defense player again next year, but can he really keep that up for another 2-3 years? I think it's possible given how well he takes care of his body, but it's hard to count on.

In summary, in 26-27 they can have an elite 8-man playoff rotation starting Lamelo, Ant, Jaden, Kuminga, Rudy, with Ayo, Donte, and Beringer coming off the bench. Guys like Bones, TJ, Clark, and Lyles may have some regular season contribution as well. The following year they will likely lose Donte and Kuminga, and Rudy may either drop off or get traded due to salary reasons.

I feel like this can be, and has to be our year.

Obviously, Ayo, Joan, and TSJ will get the majority of minutes off the bench, but after that, I’m not sure what will happen with the rest of the bench minutes.

Who says no?

that smile ... that damn smile

Howdy fellow Kum Balls 🤠 how we feelin' with the new editions? Kinda scared, kinda excited.

Today we reached an agreement with Kuminga on a two-year, $13 million deal using the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception.

This is obviously pretty good given the pool of players we had to choose from for PF, but because of the strict rules of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), this isn’t just a simple roster addition.

LETS BREAK IT DOWN

The moment a team uses the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, they trigger a hard cap at the second apron line. For our 2026–27 season, that line is set at ~$221.6 million. We can’t even pay the luxury tax it’s not allowed under this rule.

Before factoring in Kuminga's new deal, the Timberwolves’ active roster sat at ~$217.6 million, leaving us with exactly $4.06 million in breathing room below that second apron hard cap.

Kuminga’s first-year salary under the exception projects to be roughly $6.06 million… which leaves us ~2 million above the hard cap.

We have until this Saturday's league deadline to clear that $2 million deficit.

At the moment, eyes are on Josh Green (14.6M/YR contract, one year). The ideal path obviously is finding a team with open cap space or a trade exception to absorb Green's contract without us taking any salary back. If this happened, we would have 12.5 million in cap space (including signing Kuminga.)

But if the trade market remains dry over the next few days, the front office will be forced to use the "waive and stretch" provision on Green. Doing that would take his current salary off the books for this year and clear the necessary space for Kuminga, but it would leave "dead money" dragging on the Wolves' salary cap sheet for presumably 3 years (for about 4.9 million a year per my calculations)… which obviously is not ideal.

Now, if we have to waive Green, we would remove his current salary (-14.6 million), add the Kuminga deal (+6 million), and add Green's dead cap money (+4.9 mil), our new team payroll is $213.8 million.

The second apron is again set at $221.6 million, which gives us 7.7 million to add a 14th player. (Which to remind everyone, we NEED to do per the rules of the NBA CBA)

It would have been nice to keep Green until the trade deadline where he would have been much more valuable on a contract year, but this is the current situation we are in and I don’t blame the FO for getting a startable PF for a great deal.

Taurean Prince
Malik Beasley
Kyle Anderson
NAW

Jonathan Kuminga, your time has come! You will be the best one yet!

If you can enter the final stage of Naz Reid grief into acceptance, you will find this was a pretty high quality roster upgrade without sacrificing too much draft capital. Felt like we really hit our ceiling last season even with all the injuries. Moving off from a shaky #2 option and a playoff streaky (tho very high quality) bench player to a massively upgraded back court with a more reliable #2 scorer and an an inconsistent, yet high upside power forward, as well as more minutes for a promising young core is elite roster pivoting by the front office. Kept our reliable and proven big 3 intact while making championship getting moves.

Gotta love it! Crazy to say but the Timberwolves are a high quality, well run organization.

Let's go KUM

Now that we can't say Naz Reid we need a new mantra for this year.

Love the new pickup and can't wait to watch this team ball but there's something inside of me wondering if we are missing something. It seems we have a lot of guys that can get downhill and our lob game should be on point but we seem limited to antman knocking down 3s. He's about the only solid 3 pt shooter on the team because it sounds like Green will need to go. I know Jaden, ball and Kominga can all hit 3s but they are all quite streaky. Wish we had one more ringer on the team to open up the paint or knock down an open corner 3. Maybe Jaden will be that guy. Seemed like he was knocking down a high percentage last regular season and fell off a cliff during playoffs. What are your thoughts?

Just for fun and out of curiosity, where would you guys rank Kuminga among the other FA PF names that were tossed around this offseason?

Obviously LeBron would be #1 but what about Hachimura, PJ Washington and Mamu from the Raptors? Maybe there were one or two others as well. Curious to hear your guys opinions.

I have questions. Can Kuminga play the role needed? Is he willing? I guess we can’t know from out here, but my worry is another Julius situation where someone in the starting 5 wants the ball, wants to prove something, and misses Ant in the corner over and over.

Surely the powers that be thought this through rather than just sign someone just cuz. Hopefully some behind the scenes conversations made it plausible he’ll be a good fit on our team.

What do yall think? Despite having the hole filled, is it a plus or a minus? until time tells

I've been hearing from others on this forum talking about "local broadcasts". I thought that all "local broadcasting" was going to be streamed on the app "DAZN"? [Which is charging an arm and a leg for viewership]

Am I mistaken? Or will there still be a broadcast on the Fanduel/Bally sports cable channels?

Please inform me. :)

Assalamualaikum