Having gone undrafted in the NBA Draft, LSU product Naz Reid signed a lowly two-way contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves back in July 2019. It was the first professional contract of his career, and the smallest possible amount an NBA player can sign for.
Now, six years later, the same Timberwolves team are giving him nine figures.
Armed with a player option heading into free agency this summer, Reid was reported to have decided to decline it last month, in anticipation of a larger pay day – or at least, a longer one. And a new report suggests that he has achieved both.
Shams Charania of ESPN re-shared news from Reid’s agents of his intent to sign a new five-year, $125 million contract to stay with the Timberwolves, a deal which will again included a player option in the final season. The $25 million per-season average is a sizable increase on the $15,022,464 option for 2025-26 that Reid declined, and will take him through to at least his 29th birthday.
From End Of Timberwolves Bench, To This
Last season, as the first big man off the bench behind Rudy Gobert, Reid averaged 14.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, including shooting 37.9% from the three-point line. This came off the back of his excellent 2023-24 campaign, in which he was the winner of the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, and Reid’s scoring infusions from the bench were a key part behind Minnesota’s run to the Western Conference Finals. One or two more made threes, and he might have tipped them.
As the polar opposite of Gobert, Reid introduces a different look into the game, and is a proven potent NBA scorer. Fulfilling the Bobby Portis role, he is a proven scorer from all areas of an NBA court, and while his tweener status, occasional rotational lapses and frustration fouls have limited his effectiveness on the defensive end, all those points scored while standing 6’9 have led to the kind of payday that would once have been unthinkable.
Working in the Timberwolves’ favor was the lack of salary cap space around the league. With the exception of the Brooklyn Nets – who were not likely to be looking in Reid’s direction anyway – the rivals for Reid’s signature would have been looking to make sign-and-trade deals. By getting him to commit before the free agency window even opens, the Wolves tie up a key rotational piece.
Timberwolves Cannot Afford Everybody
On the flip side, the decision to re-sign Reid will mean someone else has to go.
Already, even without Reid, the Timberwolves have among the leagueâs highest 2025-26 payrolls, an inevitable by-product of all their quality depth. With $187 million committed even without Reid’s new deal, there is not enough money for everyone, no matter how willing they are to pay it.
Gobertâs pay cut in his upcoming extension, combined with the savings from the preseason Karl-Anthony Towns trade with the New York Knicks, has saved some money. The Wolves have historically been very reticent of exceeding the tax threshold, but there is more than just that to contend with. Aprons exist now, and they breathe unignorably down team’s necks.
The NBAâs current official projections put the 2025-26 âsecond apronâ threshold at $207,824,000, the luxury tax threshold at $187,895,000, and the first apron threshold at $195,945,000. Operating over the second apron will mean that the Timberwolves will lose a lot of tools. They will not be able to acquire players via sign-and-trades, use trade exceptions from previous years (such as the $8,780,488 million one still outstanding from the Kyle Anderson sign-and-trade last July), use the Bi-Annual exception at all, be limited to just using the minimum salary contract to add external free agents, aggregating neither contracts nor trade multiple players in the same deal, are forbidden from sending cash out in trades, and cannot trade their 2032 first-round pick.
Teams can still go over the aprons to re-sign their own free agents. The door is not closed in that respect. Yet the punitive effects of doing so are not worth it. Someone will have to go.
Reid In, Someone Else Out
The Timberwolves have three big free agents this summer, with Reid joined by starting power forward Julius Randle, and fellow key bench contributor Nickeil Alexander-Walker (who finished sixth in this year’s Sixth Man of the Year award, one place behind Reid).
Two in, one out, is how the math will shake out. Reid is one of the two. And it appears Alexander-Walker may be the one to go. With Donte DiVincenzo also on the roster, and Mike Conley still wanting to play two more years, his loss may be the most surmountable.
The Atlanta Hawks are said to be very interested in Alexander-Walker. So, too, may be the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Golden State Warriors are also a name attached to him. With their own payroll being so large, Alexander-Walker represents a luxury rather than a necessity for the Timberwolves going forward. And there is a tax on NBA luxuries.
There is a cost to being good, and the Timberwolves are now stuck with paying it. Nonetheless, one of the key components in their turnaround is now tied down. And still aged only 25, Reid will have resale in the trade market if necessary.
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