Bones Hyland Shades Nuggets in Post After Timberwolves Eliminate Denver. There’s a History Here.

Comments have flown back and forth over the years between Hyland and his former team.

Hyland averaged 8.5 points per game for Minnesota this season. | Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Bones Hyland isn’t too bummed to see the Nuggets booking their offseason vacations on Friday.

One day after the Timberwolves eliminated the Nuggets from the first round of the NBA playoffs Thursday in a 110–98 win, Hyland—who played two seasons with Denver from 2021 to ‘23—sent his former team a message on social media.

“3 years ago they traded me. 3 years fast forward we eliminate them,” Hyland wrote on X and Instagram. “I love you Minny! Wolves in 6.”

Hyland appeared in all six games of the Timberwolves-Nuggets series, averaging 7.2 points on 41.2% shooting in 13.7 minutes per contest. He played a key role in the Wolves’ 119–114 victory in Game 2, scoring 13 points off the bench on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the perimeter.

Hyland first arrived in Minnesota at the trade deadline last February when the Wolves signed him shortly after he was waived following a Clippers-Hawks trade. After playing just 17 total minutes for Minnesota last season, Hyland re-signed with the club in September and was once again on the outside looking in at coach Chris Finch’s rotation to start the 2025–26 campaign.

That all changed in December. Hyland found his way into the mix and scored in double figures in six of 11 games that month, and continued to bring a spark off the bench the rest of the way. From Dec. 8 onward, Hyland shot 39.4% from three-point range and averaged 9.7 points per game for Minnesota.

In the playoffs, Hyland represented one of the many common threads between the Timberwolves and Nuggets as a player who has suited up for both sides of the growing Western Conference rivalry. Aside from Hyland, Minnesota president of basketball operations Tim Connelly led the Nuggets’ front office from 2013 to ‘22 and actually drafted Hyland with the No. 26 pick in 2021.

Why Nuggets parted ways with Bones Hyland in 2023

Hyland missed out on Denver’s magical championship run in 2023 by a couple of months.

Ahead of the 2023 trade deadline, the Nuggets, now led by Calvin Booth after Connelly's departure, sent Hyland to the Clippers in exchange for two second-round picks—a small return for an impact bench player in just his second season. The real motivation for the move was to clear salary and minutes for Christian Braun, the Nuggets’ first-round pick in 2022.

Booth was rather honest when he discussed the decision behind trading Hyland in a 2023 interview with The Ringer.

“I knew [we] couldn’t have two guys that couldn’t guard, and we couldn’t have two guys that were young and kind of more ‘me guys,’” Booth said. “[Michael Porter Jr.] makes $30 million. He’s one of the best shooters in the NBA. So, Bones, there’s no place for you.”

Harsh words, no doubt. But three years later, Hyland got his revenge and sent Denver packing.

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