Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly is believed to have a strong relationship with Marc Stad, who is purchasing majority control of the franchise from current co-owner Marc Lore, writes Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link).
As Stein writes, that’s notable because Connelly – who was among Dallas’ front office targets before the team hired Masai Ujiri earlier this offseason – only has one year remaining on his contract with the Timberwolves.
It’s not uncommon for a team to undergo front office and/or head coaching changes when a new owner takes over, but that may not be the plan for the Timberwolves, given that Stad was already a minority shareholder in the franchise and had been involved in organizational decisions as part of the current ownership group.
While Connelly has one year remaining on his contract, Minnesota head coach Chris Finch has two years left on his deal, Stein notes.
Here are a few more items of interest from Stein’s latest round-up of NBA intel:
Formal approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors on Lore’s sale of a majority stake in the Timberwolves to Stad may not happen until January, according to Stein.
Confirming that center Nick Richards is considered a “prime candidate” to sign with the Heat, Stein also echoes previous reporting in stating that guard Gabe Vincent and wing Keshad Johnson – both of whom have previously played for Miami – are receiving consideration from the front office as the team weighs how to fill the two open spots on its projected 15-man regular season roster. The Heat have two standard roster spots and one two-way slot open. Of those three players, only Johnson is still two-way eligible.
Mavericks vice president of strategy and analytics Andrew Baker and director of pro player personnel Makhtar N’Diaye both parted ways with the organization earlier in August, Stein reports. Both Baker and Ndiaye were hired by former general manager Nico Harrison and continued to work in the front office under co-interim GMs Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi this season. According to Stein, Finley is now the only high-ranking executive from the previous regime who still has a role in Dallas’ new-look front office.
In case you missed it, Stein also reported that rival teams continue to keep an eye on Kyrie Irving as a possible trade candidate, despite the fact that the Mavericks have turned away inquiries to this point.