Quinten Post, Steph Curry, Warriors
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Quinten Post and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors reacts after Post made a three-point shot.
The Golden State Warriors are the odds-on favorites to sign Minnesota Timberwolves versatile center Naz Reid this summer.
Online sports book Bovada has the Warriors as the +175 favorites to land Reid if he doesn’t return to Minnesota next season.
Reid plans to decline his $15 million player option and enter unrestricted free agency.
“For sure. I think the work has been put in,” Reid told reporters after the Timberwolves’ playoff exit. “Obviously, I’ve got a long way to go with being only 25, but for sure. I think that’s what the future looks like for me.”
Naz Reid Wants to Start
Naz Reid
Getty/Ezra ShawNaz Reid of the Minnesota Timberwolves battles for a rebound against a trio of Golden State Warriors at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Reid will be one of the top centers available in free agency. The other centers who will be in the market are Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez, Indiana’s Myles Turner, Atlanta’s Clint Capela and champion centers Al Horford of Boston and Golden State’s Kevon Looney.
The other betting favorites at Bovada to land Reid are the Brooklyn Nets (+220), Charlotte Hornets (+285), Los Angeles Lakers (+375) and the Toronto Raptors (+525).
Reid, the Sixth Man of the Year in 2024, views himself as a starter, which the Timberwolves cannot afford to give him as long as Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert are in the lineup.
The Timberwolves, however, want to retain him.
“I’m not completely ruling that out,” Reid said of returning to Minnesota. “It will be a lot to think about around that, for sure. If you want to be in a winning position, sometimes you might have to sacrifice. So, I definitely view myself as a starter, but things happen, things change. You never know what’s ahead of you until you talk about it and until you go through it.”
Reid is one of the Timberwolves’ key free agents, which include top reserve wing Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Randle, who has a $30.9 million player option.
Warriors Want to Add Center
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on May 15 that the Warriors will be incredibly aggressive in re-tooling their roster to support their core of Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green.
“I’m told their priority is finding a playmaking wing defender or a center to add to this group,” Charania said on SportsCenter at the time. “A lot of that will come down to someone that Steve Kerr and the Big Three feel like will help this team and fit their culture and identity.”
Reid, who went undrafted in 2019, is in the mold of the stretch big man that Kerr loves to have on his team. That’s why rookie center Quinten Post earned his trust for his 3-point shooting that helps spread the floor.
The Timberwolves reserve center is coming off a career season, averaging 14.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists. He shot 37.9% from the 3-point line in the regular season and improved that to 39.7% in the playoffs.
The Warriors’ pathway to landing Reid is complicated since they have their own Jonathan Kuminga conundrum. Kuminga is a restricted free agent.
According to ESPN’s front office insider Bobby Marks, Kuminga holds the key to the Warriors’ financial flexibility this offseason.
“Without him on the roster, Golden State is $17.5 million below the luxury tax. They are $25.5 million and $37 million below both aprons. They are allowed to use their $14.1 million non-tax midlevel exception but would not be allowed to exceed the first apron once the roster is filled out,” Marks wrote.