The Minnesota Timberwolves came up short in their pursuit of LeBron James, but Tim Connelly made it clear that he and the franchise had a serious shot of truly landing the 41-year-old superstar.
Appearing on The Jon Krawczynski Show, the Timberwolves president revealed that James seriously liked his basketball fit in Minnesota and was intrigued by playing alongside Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, and Jaden McDaniels.
"I've known those guys forever, so I thought it was pretty consistent that they were really intrigued by the basketball fit," Connelly said of James and Rich Paul. "That was never a concern.
"One or two nights, we had these long conversations. He's really fired up about the basketball fit. And then we didn't see the Jaylen Brown thing coming. It was kind of a left-field thing. So you never want to get too excited, but we were encouraged by the dialogue. It was consistent and constant. There weren't any lapses, and it was always, 'Hey, I really like playing with Ant, playing with Rudy, playing with Jaden.' I think playing between two elite defenders really intrigued him."
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LeBron James joins 76ers amid Timberwolves, other teams' interest
The Minnesota Timberwolves have primarily emerged as one of the top and leading suitors for LeBron James right after the future Hall of Famer entered unrestricted free agency and informed the Los Angeles Lakers that he would not return.
Yet, despite their aggressive push along with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, and the Golden State Warriors, James opted to bring his talents to the Philadelphia 76ers via a reported two-year, $8 million deal.
Even if they failed in their pursuit, Tim Connelly is at least happy that James did not join a particular Western Conference rival.
James' decision to go to Philadelphia makes the 76ers an absolute championship powerhouse, joining forces with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Jaylen Brown.
"He went to a great team, a great organization. Thankfully, he's out of the West, but we gave our best shot," Connelly added. "Unfortunately, he chose elsewhere."