Former Trail Blazers Wing Signs With Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves have continued to add talent this offseason in free agency and their most recent addition is CJ Elleby, who was drafted 46th overall in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers.
On Tuesday, the Timberwolves and Elleby agreed to a training camp deal, allowing the young wing to compete for the team’s final roster spot, first reported by HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.
Elleby, 22, held a minimal role in Portland through his first two seasons in the league, but he did receive quite a bit of playing this past season given all of the injuries the Trail Blazers had to deal with.
Playing in 58 games during the 2021-22 season, CJ Elleby averaged 5.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and shot 39.3% from the floor, 29.4% from three-point range.
While his perimeter shooting did increase from his rookie season, Elleby’s lack of consistency from beyond-the-arc is one of the main reasons why he has not seen a ton of playing time early on in his career.
Once his contract with Minnesota is officially signed, the Timberwolves will be sitting at the maximum of 20 contracts entering training camp. However, only 12 of these contracts are guaranteed, meaning there are still three roster spots up for grabs ahead of the start of the 2022-23 season.
Austin Rivers, Nathan Knight and Jaylen Nowell all have partially-guaranteed contracts for the upcoming year and both Phillip Wheeler and David McCormick have signed Exhibit-10 training camp deals with the Timberwolves.
CJ Elleby will really need to stand out in training camp in order to secure an actual roster spot for a Timberwolves team that has high playoff aspirations coming out of the offseason.
