The Minnesota Timberwolves are picking up the 2022-23 team options on Naz Reid and Jaylen Nowell, sources tell Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
Both players will earn $1,930,681 next season, and both deals are non-guaranteed. Reid’s contract will become guaranteed on July 20, while Nowell’s guarantee date is in January.
As Krawczynski notes, both reserves were productive last season but were essentially depth pieces in the postseason, so neither player has a clear-cut standing on Minnesota’s roster going forward. However, head coach Chris Finch recently praised Nowell, according to Chris Hine of The Star Tribune.
“We saw in short stints out there what he’s able to do,” Finch said of Nowell. “He’s an X-factor, he’s a game-changer. I think everybody needs that. He has the ability to create his own basket, he has the ability to attack switching. He’s actually an underrated play-maker.”
Finch added that the Timberwolves wants to find regular minutes for him going forward.
"But now we’re trying to figure out how to get a role, a more consistent role, for him, and we want him to feel as a part of our young core as anybody else that’s here."
Both Reid, a center, and Nowell, a guard, will turn 23 this summer. In 77 games (15.6 MPG) last season, Reid averaged 8.3 PPG and 3.9 RPG on .484/.343/.765 shooting, with his minutes, points and rebounds all declining from ’20-21.
Nowell averaged 8.5 PPG, 2.0 RPG and 2.1 APG on .475/.394/.783 shooting in 62 games (15.7 MPG) in ’21-22. Both players are entering their fourth seasons and have spent their entire careers with Minnesota.
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