Jaden McDaniels agrees to huge contract extension with Timberwolves

The Timberwolves and forward Jaden McDaniels are in agreement on a five-year rookie scale extension worth $136M, agents Nima Namakian and Bill Duffy tell Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.

As Charania notes, by agreeing to give McDaniels a significant contract extension, the Wolves project to be a taxpayer starting in 2024-25, which is when the new deal kicks in. Minnesota hasn’t been a taxpaying team in almost 20 years, Charania adds.

McDaniels will make $3.9M this season in the final year of his rookie contract.

ESPN’s Zach Lowe recently said on his Lowe Post podcast that the five-year, $135M+ extension that Spurs wing Devin Vassell signed threw a “grenade” into some other rookie scale extension negotiations around the NBA, including McDaniels’ talks.

While Lowe believed that McDaniels would be warranted in seeking an annual salary of at least $30M per year, his ESPN colleague Bobby Marks suggested that an extension worth in the neighborhood of $134M over five years (just below Vassell’s deal) might make sense for both the player and the team. Marks turned out to be almost exactly right.

When I covered McDaniels’ extension candidacy this summer, I projected he could get about $25M annually. If the deal is fully guaranteed, he’ll make a couple million per year more than that.

The 23-year-old is one of the top wing defenders in the league. He’s coming off a career year in which he averaged 12.1 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.9 APG, 0.9 SPG and 1.0 BPG on .517/.398/.736 shooting in 79 games, all starts (30.6 MPG). McDaniels also posted a career-best 58.8% two-point percentage in ’22/23, with a major leap in scoring efficiency (61.1% True Shooting percentage, vs. 55.2% and 55.3% in his previous two seasons).

Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News and Skor North was speaking to Wolves owner Glen Taylor on Monday and he said a deal would be completed prior to the 5:00 p.m. CT deadline. Taylor also said the Wolves were able to lower McDaniels’ asking price, with Vassell’s contract cited in talks, according to Wolfson.

McDaniels is the 11th former first-round pick to agree to a rookie scale extension this offseason, tying the record of the past two years.