Report: Timberwolves' Jaylen Nowell expected to explore unrestricted free agency
Big Timberwolves news Monday morning as Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that Jaylen Nowell is expected to see what he can get as an unrestricted free agent after the season.
That detail is within Charania's wider report that says the Timberwolves have engaged in contract extension talks with Nowell and Naz Reid, but saying that Nowell "is expected to bypass a new deal and enter unrestricted free agency next offseason."
Reid and Nowell were key in a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday night, combining for 21 of Minnesota's 34 points in the fourth quarter. Reid scored all 14 of his points in the quarter.
Nowell is off to a fast start, averaging 15 points per game to immediately put himself in the Sixth Man of the Year conversation. And he's proved to be a reliable No. 2 scorer in a lineup combination featuring Anthony Edwards and four reserves.
It was the group of Edwards, Nowell, Reid, Taurean Prince, and Jordan McLaughlin that dominated the Thunder in the fourth quarter, allowing Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert and D'Angelo Russell to rest the final 12 minutes ahead of the second part of a back-to-back Monday night at the San Antonio Spurs.
Nowell, 23, testing free agency doesn't guarantee that he'll leave the Timberwolves. If D'Angelo Russell, also a free agent after the season, doesn't re-sign, it would open up the possibility of paying Nowell.
Of course, we're three games into the season and a lot will change by the time free agency begins next summer.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.