Updated Timberwolves Salary Cap Sheet and How it Impacts the Rest of Their Offseason

With LaMelo Ball and Josh Green officially welcomed onto the roster at Target Center on Tuesday, the Minnesota Timberwolves look a whole lot different than they did when the offseason began.

In comes the supremely talented yet polarizing All-Star point guard, Ball, to pair backcourt with Anthony Edwards in the backcourt, and out goes a pair of power forwards: the beloved Naz Reid and the much less admired Julius Randle, along with a fair amount of draft capital.

While the Wolves fixed the hole at point guard that they've been trying to solve for multiple seasons, in the process they opened up a new roster imbalance. There's a sudden lack of depth in the frontcourt, and little to no financial flexibility to fix it this transaction cycle.

Minnesota Timberwolves salary cap sheet

The Timberwolves sit less than $4 million below the second apron with 13 players currently on the roster. That second apron space is all Minnesota is allowed to spend by rule, because they aggregated salaries in the Reid and Randle for Ball and Green trade.

Before the season begins, the Wolves will need to use that cap space to add at least one player to their roster to reach the NBA minimum of 14 players. The simplest answer would be signing someone to the $2.4 million veteran's minimum to round out the roster.

Where can the Timberwolves find more cap space?

Alternatively, the Timberwolves could look to make a cost-cutting trade to open up more spending room. They could attempt to dump Green's $14.7 million salary, but they are all out of draft capital to entice another team to take on that money. And even if the Wolves were able to fully wipe Green off the books, they would only be allowed to spend up to the $6 million taxpayer mid-level exception, an amount not likely to lure a starting-caliber player.

The Wolves could look to send Donte DiVincenzo's expiring contract to a team that would be interested in re-signing him in the offseason or attach Terrence Shannon Jr. as a sweetener in a trade, but the Timberwolves have indicated both publicly and privately that they do not intend to trade either player.

The other financially-driven trade option the Timberwolves could explore would be to take on future money or a player whose current team has soured on him in exchange for an expiring deal. The issue there would be the Wolves' willingness to take on a contract that an opposing team has deemed as a negative asset.

This type of trade may be easier to execute at next February's trade deadline as more teams fall out of the playoff race and their priorities shift from winning games to preparing for subsequent seasons. If Minnesota were able to stay afloat with their current cast of players, they may be able to find much better trade options than are currently available.

Lastly, the Wolves could look to make a two-for-one trade where they get back two rotation players while sending out just one of their own. This option seems the least likely to happen as it would require sending out Rudy Gobert, who seems as well set up as anyone on the Timberwolves roster to thrive with the acquisition of Ball.

While the avenues for the Timberwolves adding to their roster do not seem clear, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly has shown a knack for making surprising moves when it seems as though Minnesota's financial books have backed him into a corner.

"It's certainly an area we're going to have to try to be creative," Connelly said about the power forward position. "There's a couple free agents still available. We're working with one or two of them right now. We'll see if that comes to fruition."

Whether Connelly is hinting at the LeBron James sweepstakes or a much lower-wattage move, it is clear that the Wolves front office does not feel that their team is complete. Only time will tell if they can fully round out the roster this summer or will have to roll into the season with an imperfect team.

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