‘Stuck my roots’: Wolves’ Reid thrilled to return

MINNEAPOLIS — Naz Reid may nicely have discovered an even bigger function had he hit the open market.

Staying in Minnesota simply felt proper. The Timberwolves had no real interest in letting him depart, even with all that valuable salary-cap area dedicated to their huge males.

“I began my profession right here. I wished to proceed my profession right here. I’ve gotten higher every yr right here as nicely, so it solely made sense,” Reid mentioned. “I did not wish to go wherever else.”

After eschewing unrestricted free company for a three-year, $42 million contract with the Wolves final week, Reid participated in a information convention on Wednesday on the Southside Village Boys and Ladies Membership in Minneapolis, one among his favourite locations to volunteer.

With nearly $90 million — two-thirds of the $136 million wage cap — earmarked for 3 pure put up gamers in 2023-24, Reid will begin the season as a backup behind Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns because the Wolves hit the reset button on their against-the-grain experiment with enjoying the 2 huge males in the identical beginning lineup.

Cities missed 52 video games final season with a extreme calf pressure, so Reid was compelled into heavier rotation after showing to be an afterthought initially. He averaged 11.5 factors and shot 53.7% from the ground in 68 video games in 2022-23, each profession bests, and in 4 video games when his enjoying time topped half-hour he averaged 27 factors and 11 rebounds.

After he suffered a damaged left wrist in the course of the remaining week of the common season, Reid was clearly missed in Minnesota’s first-round playoff sequence loss to eventual NBA champion Denver.

“All people has that feeling in a contract yr: ‘What is going on to occur?'” mentioned Reid, who was undrafted out of LSU in 2019. “I caught to my roots. They believed in me, and I believed in this system as nicely. We got here collectively and acquired the deal achieved.”

The Wolves put the ultimate stamp on their earlier declaration they’re constructing their roster round All-Star capturing guard Anthony Edwards who has agreed on a five-year designated rookie most deal that may very well be value $260 million. Due to cap and age, not to mention manufacturing and match, the Cities-Gobert pairing is unlikely to final wherever close to so long as the length of Edwards’ new deal. That makes the 23-year-old Reid all of the extra enticing to maintain round.

“I can not inform you what number of instances all through this course of his teammates have been calling and saying, ‘Let’s get Naz achieved.’ I am telling them, ‘Let’s get Naz achieved,'” president of basketball operations Tim Connelly mentioned.

The Timberwolves have additionally enhanced their depth by reaching agreements to retain restricted free agent capturing guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker and signal small ahead Troy Brown Jr. and capturing guard Shake Miltonhowever locking up Reid set the tone for the summer season.

“Naz has such a flexible sport. His ability, it opens up simply a lot lineup flexibility with our workforce, whether or not he backs up on the 4 or backs up on the 5,” coach Chris Finch mentioned. “Heck, we’d even attempt to play all of them three collectively, simply because there’s a lot ability there — and the dimensions.”

The Related Press contributed to this report.