Timberwolves triple down on big men with latest signing

The Timberwolves locked up Naz Reid days before he hit free agency, where the 23-year-old center was expected to draw serious interest from other teams. Now Reid gets a big raise, guaranteed money and a player option that could let him hit free agency again at age 25.

The deal means that Minnesota is devoting over $90 million to the center position. Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns make $41M and $36M, respectively, though Towns played two-thirds of his minutes at power forward last season after Gobert's arrival.

That's a lot of financial commitment to big lineups. With 6'9" Jaden McDaniels and 6'9" Kyle Anderson joining the 6'9" Reid to round out the frontcourt, Minnesota is going to be one of the biggest teams in the league. After watching the similarly-oversized Denver Nuggets steamroll every team in their path on the way to a championship - including the Wolves - Minnesota may have concluded they couldn't afford to lose Reid.

The Nuggets started the seven-foot Jokic alongside 6'10" Aaron Gordon and 6'10" Michael Porter, Jr. They simply wore down teams like the Miami Heat with their superior size and tough matchups, helped by Finals MVP Jokic essentially playing as a gigantic point guard.

Gobert and Towns don't have those same playmaking skills, but Reid is a great scorer. He averaged 11.5 points in just 18.4 minutes per game, shooting 53.7 percent and making a respectable 34.6 percent of his three-pointers. It's almost the inverse of the offensively-challenged Gobert, whose shooting range is about three to five feet from the hoop.

The other reason to invest heavily in Reid is as insurance for the other two high-priced bigs. Towns played just 29 games last year, and has missed an average of 28 games for the past four seasons. Gobert turned 31 Monday, so his healthiest days are likely behind him as well.

Can a center-heavy roster succeed in 2023? It works for Minnesota this year because All-Star Anthony Edwards and defensive ace McDaniels are on cheap rookie deals. But when their likely rookie extensions kick in for 2024-25, the Wolves will have to make tough decisions about which big men they're paying.

Until then, the big bad Wolves will ride their three-center roster as far as it will go.