Josh Minott gets part of Timberwolves MLE in four year deal

Continuing to discuss our Minnesota Timberwolves roster build, let’s now turn our attention to the addition of rookie forward Josh Minott.  The Timberwolves selected Minott with the 45th overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft. Originally, the projections for Minott were that he would sign on with the team on a two-way contract.

But then the team opted to send five players to the Utah Jazz, along with a truckload of NBA Draft first-round picks, to acquire center Rudy Gobert. That created roster spot openings. Then, Josh Minott showed off a bit in the Timberwolves’ summer league competition. He performed so well, in fact, that the Timberwolves nixed the two-way contract idea and signed him straight up to a standard four-year rookie deal.

Now, how did they pay for him? Per NBA Insider and capologist Keith Smith, the Timberwolves were able to make use of their Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (MLE) to help offset the cost of his contract.

Josh Minott got part of the Minnesota Timberwolves Non-Taxpayer MLE in his four-year deal, a league source tells @spotrac.

Four years at the minimum for Minott, the first two seasons are fully guaranteed. The second two seasons are non-guaranteed with late-June guarantee dates.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 23, 2022

So how much was available in their MLE? For that answer, we turn to Timberwolves resident capologist and NBA Insider Dane Moore, who reported that the Timberwolves had approximately $1.5 million remaining to use on their MLE.

Here’s my updated Wolves cap sheet after the Rudy Gobert trade

– 3 open roster spots (4 if Minott is a 2-way)
– $8.7M below the tax line (to fill out roster)
– Can add players with: remaining MLE (about $1.5M); minimum deals; matching a Knight RFA offer
– 22-23 cap space is gone pic.twitter.com/uRlCnCVANL

— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) July 1, 2022

In the end, the Timberwolves are making use of all of their tools and financial resources this year to assemble the roster. I like where this is heading, as it shows that the front office is very strategic this year.