Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly is sticking around, opting into the five-year, $40 million contract he signed in 2022. This means he’ll remain with the Wolves for at least two more seasons, team sources told The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski on Friday.
Connelly’s original deal included an opt-out clause for summer 2024, something he specifically negotiated because he wasn’t sure about the team’s ownership situation.
But he decided to push that option back a year to see how things would play out with the Wolves’ ownership drama. Turns out, the upcoming 2024-25 season will be the last with Glen Taylor as owner.
After a messy court battle over who should control the franchise, Marc Lore and former baseball star Alex Rodriguez were officially granted ownership of the team starting after the 2024-25 season.
“Super happy here,” Connelly said back in June during his end-of-season press conference. “It’s been great, not just working with the team, but this whole community really feels like home. I think you guys are stuck with me.”
Turning the Wolves Into Contenders
Connelly, 49, has completely transformed Minnesota’s roster into a legitimate playoff threat that’s reached the Western Conference finals two years in a row.
Bringing him on board was one of the first big moves Rodriguez and Lore made when they initially joined as co-owners with Taylor. They started with just 20% ownership back in July 2021.
This past June, Lore and Rodriguez finally completed their full purchase of both the Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx for $1.5 billion, the price they’d originally agreed to with Taylor.
Since taking over basketball operations, Connelly has made several game-changing moves.
He traded for Rudy Gobert in 2022, but his real masterpiece came in 2023. That’s when he shipped D’Angelo Russell to the Lakers and somehow got back Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and three second-round picks from the Jazz and Lakers.
Most recently, Connelly pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal sending longtime Wolves star Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks in exchange for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.
New Leadership in the Front Office
Connelly’s decision to stay comes just days after Matthew Caldwell left his job as president of business operations for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers to become CEO of the Timberwolves and Lynx on a 10-year deal.
According to the team’s announcement, Caldwell will start overseeing “day-to-day business operations and high-level strategic initiatives for the Timberwolves, Lynx, and Iowa Wolves” on September 2.
He’ll take over from interim-CEO Kelly Laferriere, who guided the organization through its ownership transition. Laferriere will move into a role as senior advisor to ownership.
“I love the NHL. I’ve enjoyed hockey and I’m a big fan of it,” Caldwell explained. “But the NBA is just a much bigger, global platform. I really believe in Marc and Alex and their vision and what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to make Minnesota best in class.”
Caldwell was instrumental in building the Panthers into back-to-back Stanley Cup champions after joining the NHL team in 2014 as CCO before becoming CEO in 2016.
