The Minnesota Timberwolves have some decisions to make.
The franchise, fresh off of a second straight loss in the Western Conference finals, turns its attention to an incredibly important offseason, with a number of the team's key role players up for free agency. Among them: reserve forward Naz Reid, the 2024 NBA Sixth-Man of the Year who posted career-highs in points (14.2), rebounds (six) and assists (2.3) per game in '24–25.
Reid has been the heart and soul of the Timberwolves during their ascent to championship contention, one of the NBA's true fan favorites. Of course, the 25-year-old sees himself as an NBA starter, something he has only done 74 times through six seasons in Minnesota (and never in the postseason). Reid intends to decline $15 million player option for 2025–26 and see where he stands in what should be a fairly weak free-agent market.
“For sure. I think the work has been put in,” Reid said Thursday, per The Minnesota Star Tribune, one day after Minnesota's elimination at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“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.”
Reid says he is leaving the door open to a return to the Timberwolves to continue as the team's sixth-man if they retain their existing frontcourt, acknowledging that he could sacrifice a bit to stay with a franchise that looks to be in position to break through for a championship run.
“I’m not completely ruling that out. It will be a lot to think about around that, for sure,” Reid said. “... 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.”
His future may hinge on how Minnesota handles starting power forward Julius Randle, who has a $30.9 million player option, and shooting guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who is an unrestricted free agent. Randle is a particularly unique case, after he followed a dominant series performance agianst the Golden State Warriors (25.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists per game) with an inconsistent series against the Thunder, in which he scored 24+ points in Games 1, 3 and 5 but was held to 11 total points in the other two games.
If Randle opts in, Reid could conceivably be the odd-man out in the Twin Cities, as painful as that would be for his legions of fans.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Naz Reid Made Telling Comments on Free Agency After T-Wolves Elimination From Playoffs.
