Eight months after firing Gersson Rosas, the Timberwolves have found a new team President.
Nuggets President Tim Connelly has agreed to become the Wolves' new President of Basketball Operations, NBA sources confirmed.
Connelly met with Wolves controlling owner Glen Taylor on Saturday and agreed to a deal after having talks in recent weeks with Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, who are set to become controlling owners in 2023.
The contract is for five years and $40 million, with Connelly getting an equity stake in the team that will raise the value of the package.
Lore and Rodriguez purchased the team for $1.5 billion in a deal that was finalized 2021. Taylor will be the controlling owner until 2023.
Connelly's hiring represents the end of a long process for the new owners to find a top-tier executive with an extensive track record to run the basketball side of the franchise for years going forward.
He helped build a perennial contender in Denver around two-time MVP Nikola Jokic since joining the Nuggets as general manager in 2013. He was later promoted to President.
The Nuggets reached the Western Conference finals in 2020. Jamal Murray, the burgeoning guard who spearheaded that run alongside Jokic, has been out since April 2021 after tearing his left ACL. Denver hasn't advanced past the second round in the two playoffs since.
Connelly is a native of Baltimore who also worked for the Wizards and Hornets. He inherits a Wolves roster that made its second playoff appearance since 2004. His hiring ends a high-wire act of negotiations while the team still allowed executive vice president Sachin Gupta to run the team on a day-to-day basis after Rosas' firing in September.
Gupta oversaw the roster and made moves such as extending Patrick Beverley to a one-year contract and signing coach Chris Finch to a four-year deal as he spent the last eight months auditioning for the role that ultimately went to Connelly. Gupta has also been making changes to the front office, most recently hiring Steve Senior as an assistant general manager from Memphis. Connelly's hiring leads to a number of questions.
It's unclear if Gupta will remain with the organization moving forward.
Finch and Gupta have a good relationship and spoke highly of working with each other throughout the season. Finch also made a pitch to ownership to keep Gupta.
"I'm a huge fan, and I've advocated for him to have his opportunity to be the guy to run this team," Finch said after the season. "Nothing would make me happier than that. No better time, after this season, to be able to continue to build."
But Connelly and Finch appear to have a good relationship extending from when they worked together in Denver, sources said. Finch was an assistant with the Nuggets in the 2016-17 season.
In terms of the roster, the Wolves may potentially be in a position to offer a supermax extension to center Karl-Anthony Towns should Towns, who has two years left on his deal, make an All-NBA team. Guard D'Angelo Russell is entering the final year of his contract and will be looking for an extension while the Wolves will be trying to upgrade their frontcourt.
Connelly will also oversee the Wolves' upcoming draft in June, when they have four picks, including No. 19 overall.
But he will also oversee multiple drafts and free-agency periods beyond that. His hiring settled one of the biggest questions regarding the future of the Wolves.
Lore, Rodriguez and Taylor got their guy and are investing a lot of years and money in him.
So begins a new chapter in the organization's history.
