Minnesota Timberwolves Connected to Veteran Sharpshooter in NBA Free Agency

Due to their cap constraints, the Minnesota Timberwolves are expected to remain mostly dormant in NBA free agency. Aside from re-signing their own players, the Timberwolves cannot afford to offer any outside free agents more than the veteran minimum (between $1.15M and $3.6M , depending on years played).

Yet, now that free agents are officially allowed to begin negotiating (but not signing yet), as of 5 PM on Sunday, the Timberwolves are already being linked to one veteran sharpshooter. He even has previous experience playing with both Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley.

Joe Ingles linked to Minnesota Timberwolves, again

On Saturday, before free agency even opened, Timberwolves insider Dane Moore noted that fans should keep an eye on Joe Ingles. His reasoning was due to Minnesota’s pursuit of the former Utah Jazz small forward last season before ultimately being outbid by the Orlando Magic’s two-year, $22 million offer. However, the Magic held a team option for the second season and recently decided to allow the 36-year-old to test free agency.

This leads us to Sunday’s report from Evan Porter , who suggests the Timberwolves are indeed already showing interest in Ingles. However, as Moore previously hinted at, there’s no word on whether the Aussie is open to taking a vet-minimum contract in pursuit of his first NBA Championship.

While it’s clear that Ingles’ best days are behind him as a 10-year NBA vet who entered the league at 27, he still has one very distinct skill: He’s one of the league’s best perimeter shooters, with a career accuracy rate of 41%. It doesn’t matter how old or unathletic he is, that type of accuracy can help the Timberwolves off the bench.

• Joe Ingles stats last season: 17.2 MPG, 4.4 PPG, 3 APG, 2.1 RPG, 43.5% 3PT

With the Wolves expected to lose Kyle Anderson as he seeks bigger offers, pivoting to a player with eight years of experience playing alongside Gobert and three alongside Conley could be a fair compromise. Barring injury, Ingles isn’t likely to be among the first seven or eight players in the rotation, but it never hurts to have a shooter capable of providing productive minutes when Chris Finch calls his number.

Related: Rudy Gobert-Mikal Bridges Trade Comparison: Who Overpaid?

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