The Timberwolves are in the midst of a first-round playoff series at the moment, but their basketball boss’ name popped up in the news for different reasons Tuesday.
The Wizards announced the firing of president and general manager Tommy Sheppard after the team failed to reach the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.
“A search for new leadership will begin immediately for an executive from outside the organization,” Wizards owner Ted Leonsis said in a statement.
What does that have to do with Timberwolves’ president of basketball operations Tim Connelly? Well, his name was immediately linked to the gig as soon as news broke of its availability by a number of national outlets Tuesday. And it’s easy to see why. The Wizards’ top basketball position was last available in 2019.
Connelly, then the basketball boss in Denver, met with Leonsis to discuss the opening back then, and was reportedly offered the job before ultimately deciding to stay with the Nuggets. Of course, three years later, Connelly left Denver for a massive pay hike in Minnesota.
But the ties to the Washington D.C. area remain. Connelly himself is a Baltimore native who attended Catholic University in D.C. and started his career in the Wizards’ front office. The Wizards will surely again be interested in luring Connelly away from his current position.
Connelly agreed to a five-year, $40 million deal to join the Timberwolves as president of basketball operations last May — the first major move orchestrated by new part owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, who went big fish hunting in their search process.
The results of Year 1 until Connelly have been mixed. He’s been heavily criticized for the trade that brought Rudy Gobert to Minnesota at a heavy expense that included four first-round draft picks and rookie center Walker Kessler, who became a Rookie of the Year candidate this season in Utah.
But Connelly and his staff also made a couple clearly positive moves with the free-agent signing of Kyle Anderson and the deadline trade that brought Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker to Minnesota and sent out D’Angelo Russell.
