Days before he was slated to hit unrestricted free agency, Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid is inking a three-year, $42M contract to stay in Minnesota, his agents Jeff Schwartz and Sean Kennedy inform Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN ( Twitter link).
As Woj notes, Reid enjoyed a well-time breakout 2022-23 season with the playoff-bound Timberwolves, operating as the 42-40 club’s third big while averaging career bests of 11.5 PPG – on .537/.346/.677 shooting splits – and 4.9 RPG. He also chipped in 1.1 APG, 0.8 BPG and 0.6 SPG across his 68 contests with the team.
The 23-year-old first joined Minnesota on a two-way contract after going undrafted out of LSU in 2019. By his second season in 2020-21, Reid had carved out a major rotation role with the team.
This reported new contract represents a massive pay upgrade for the 6-foot-9 reserve. Reid's $1.9M minimum salary in 2022-23 had represented his prior pay peak.
Per Matt Williams of ESPN (Twitter link), Reid averaged 0.78 points per minute following the 2023 All-Star break, more than any other NBA center aside from eventual league MVP Joel Embiid.
Before Minnesota offloaded significant assets to the Utah Jazz in a trade for expensive former All-Star big man Rudy Gobert last summer, Reid had seemed to potentially be in line to form the team’s frontcourt of the future alongside maximum-salaried power forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns.
Reid had emerged as one of the premium big man prospects heading into free agency this summer, potentially capable of earning more money and a starting gig on another team given his upside, so it’s fascinating that he opted to stick with his current team and role.
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