Tim Connelly shuts down rumors he could leave Timberwolves: 'No truth'

In recent weeks, there have been various rumors linking Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly to other teams. Connelly has an opt-out clause in his contract, and he's been mentioned as a possible target for the Denver Nuggets (his former employer from 2013-22) and the Atlanta Hawks, among other franchises.

However, a recent report indicated that the league-wide expectation is Connelly remains with the Wolves, whose uncertain ownership situation was resolved when Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore won an arbitration dispute against Glen Taylor, clearing the path for them to take controlling ownership of the franchise. And in an interview with KFAN's Dan Barreiro on Thursday, Connelly shut down the rumors and confirmed he has no plans to leave Minnesota.

"I don't read anything, but my friends always kind of bust my chops with these articles," Connelly said. "There's no truth to any of those things. I could not be happier. Working with unbelievably great people, from the players, the coaches, the ownership. Alex, Marc, Glen, Becky — everyone's been fantastic. We're very, very happy where we are."

Led by Rodriguez and Lore, the Wolves hired Connelly away from Denver three years ago. Less than two months after his arrival, he made the controversial trade that brought Rudy Gobert to Minnesota. Last September, Connelly made another blockbuster deal when he traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for a package centered around Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. At this moment, with Gobert and Randle helping the Wolves advance past the Lakers in a Game 5 victory on Wednesday, those moves look pretty good.

Connelly said the team made the KAT trade for a variety of reasons, one of them being that they felt Randle's "playmaking and physicality" were elements they were missing in last year's Western Conference Finals loss against the Mavericks. The deal has also worked out well for the Knicks; Connelly said he called Towns on FaceTime after his huge shot in New York's Game 4 win over the Pistons.

Among other highlights from Connelly's interview with Barreiro was a quip about the Wolves' historic struggles from three-point range in Game 5.

"I'm pretty calm during games," he said. "But when we missed our 100th straight three-pointer, the calmness was starting to dissipate."

He also commented on the Wolves' internal belief that they're capable of contending for a championship this year despite entering the playoffs as the No. 6 seed in the West.

"I think there's a tremendous faith, internally, that we can make a real run," Connelly said. "If you look at our record over the last 25 games, we're as good as anybody. We had the stinker in the second half against a zone in Milwaukee, but we've resembled a contender for several months now. Our biggest hiccup obviously has been clutch basketball, which is a huge part of winning games, but analytically, if you look at some of the things we've been able to accomplish, the other teams that have done that are all 60-win teams. ... Our group has a tremendous belief and resolve that, 'Why not us? Why can't we make a run?'"

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