Insider: Wolves' Connelly 'won't hesitate to pull the trigger on a big trade'

When the Timberwolves open training camp on September 29, they'll do so with the same starting five and the majority of the bench players who played key roles on the team that reached the Western Conference Finals last season.

With a starting five of Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert, the biggest question is which player will get the first chance to work as Conley's primary backup at point guard. There appear to be two candidates: Rob Dillingham and Bones Hyland.

If Dillingham and Hyland don't give the Wolves what they need, longtime beat reporter Jon Krawczynski thinks Timberwolves president Tim Connelly could get aggressive before the February trade deadline.

"What I do know is that if point guard is not solidified and the rest of the team looks primed for another deep playoff run, Connelly will not hesitate to pull the trigger on a big trade. That is the way he’s built these Wolves, and it won’t stop now," Krawczynski wrote in a recent mailbag for The Athletic.

"Maybe the Spurs would part with De’Aaron Fox if things aren’t going well there, though the money would give me pause. Maybe one of the Jones brothers (Tyus or Tre) could be had in Chicago or Orlando."

Of course, speculation won't exist if Conley stays healthy and Dillingham or Hyland give the Wolves what they need off the bench.

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Dillingham, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, is entering his second season after playing sparingly as a rookie in 2024-25. Hyland is back for a second season with Minnesota, though the fact that he played in only four games after signing late in the season there's very little data to suggest he's an ideal candidate to play 15-20 minutes per game off the bench.

The mainstays off the bench will be Naz Reid, Donte DiVincenzo and Terrence Shannon Jr, so it's possible that the backup point guard job isn't all that important right away. Head coach Chris Finch can develop rotations that allow Edwards and Randle, who are terrific playmakers, to run the offense when Conley isn't on the floor.

They might have that job when Conley is on the floor, but the roster could be structured in a way that simply doesn't allow many minutes for Dillingham and/or Hyland. That's especially true if 2025 rookie Joan Beringer cracks the rotation as a defensive big behind Gobert.

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