{"id":691835,"date":"2026-04-01T12:33:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/691835\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T12:33:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:33:15","slug":"timberwolves-cant-help-but-laugh-at-mavericks-pipe-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/691835\/","title":{"rendered":"Timberwolves can’t help but laugh at Mavericks’ pipe dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Mavericks are searching for a new front office in the post-Nico Harrison era. According to Sports\u00a0Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, team governor Patrick Dumont is shooting for the moon.\u00a0Minnesota Timberwolves\u00a0president\u00a0of\u00a0basketball operations\u00a0Tim Connelly is one of the names on\u00a0Dumont’s\u00a0wish list.<\/a><\/p>\n

“Among the names on Dumont\u2019s wish list, per league sources: Oklahoma City executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti, Minnesota president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, and Boston president Brad Stevens. Cleveland top exec Koby Altman\u2019s name is also in the mix, a source said,” Mannix reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Within all likelihood, the\u00a0Mavericks’\u00a0interest in Connelly (and the other three big names) means very little. For starters, Connelly is under contract for at least one more season.\u00a0The Timberwolves\u00a0simply\u00a0have no reason to let Connelly go to the Mavericks, and I doubt\u00a0he has interest in leaving. <\/p>\n

I admire the\u00a0Mavericks’\u00a0ambition, but the idea that any of the four or so best executives in the league would leave their current luxurious jobs feels far-fetched at best.\u00a0Koby Altman is the only one I could\u00a0possibly\u00a0see given the Cleveland\u00a0Cavaliers’\u00a0short\u00a0title window, but even that would be a surprise.\u00a0Last summer, the New York Knicks had a similar approach to their head coaching search (even trying to poach Chris Finch<\/a>), and they ultimately ended up with Mike Brown.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There’s no real reason for Tim Connelly to leave the Timberwolves<\/p>\n

At face value,\u00a0you might think\u00a0the Mavericks would be an intriguing job.\u00a0They\u00a0have Cooper Flagg and will likely add another top pick in\u00a0June.\u00a0However, when\u00a0looking at\u00a0their draft assets,\u00a0it’s\u00a0quite bleak.\u00a0After this season, Dallas\u00a0doesn’t outright own their first-round pick until 2031.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, Flagg (and another lottery pick) offers plenty of upside, but building a well-rounded roster to support them will be challenging.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Connelly has helped elevate the Timberwolves<\/a> from a frisky young playoff team to a legitimate title threat. Frankly, I doubt that Connelly\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0want to see the end of this journey, unless\u00a0he’s\u00a0taking a far better job.\u00a0And it\u00a0can’t\u00a0be argued\u00a0that the Mavericks are\u00a0clearly\u00a0a better job. Plus, Connelly is being paid handsomely ($8 million per year) and has an ownership stake in the Timberwolves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, the counterargument would be that Connelly left a great situation with the Denver Nuggets just four years ago. Regardless, this argument doesn’t\u00a0hold up under scrutiny, as Connelly was being paid substantially less in Denver than what Minnesota was willing to pay him.\u00a0To this end, it’s well documented that the Nuggets’ ownership group is unwilling to pay top dollar for elite execs. <\/p>\n

From both a basketball and financial perspective, there’s no reason why Connelly should leave the Timberwolves. Unless credible reporting comes out that indicates some level of mutual interest, Wolves fans should have no reason to fear losing Connelly. <\/p>\n

If there’s any news regarding Connelly this summer, it will likely be about him getting an extension in Minnesota,\u00a0and that’s\u00a0great news for Timberwolves fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks are searching for a new front office in the post-Nico Harrison era. According to Sports\u00a0Illustrated’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,166,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-691835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallasmavericks","12":"tag-mavericks","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116329473835174454","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}