The Minnesota Timberwolves have found their new president of basketball operations (POBO), though the news was broken a little earlier than intended thanks to Alex Rodriguez on Instagram.
Rodriguez posted a picture on his Instagram story on Monday, enjoying a cup of coffee while one of his staff members posed with a baseball bat.
Nothing to see here, right? That is until you notice the press release announcing the hiring of Denver Nuggets POBO Tim Connelly to the same position in Minnesota.
Rodriguez has since deleted the story, but it appears he broke the news early. The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania have since reported that the Timberwolves have agreed a five-year deal to make Connelly their new president of basketball operations.
The $40 million deal will make Connelly one of the highest-paid executives in the NBA and includes ownership equity in the team.
Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed the report, citing “ESPN sources.” Rodriguez has been employed by ESPN as a baseball analyst since 2018, so there’s a pretty good bet on who that source could be.
Connelly is a massive hire for the Timberwolves. He spent the last nine years with the Nuggets and built them into a perennial contender, leading them to the Western Conference finals in 2020.
He is also considered to be one of the best talent evaluators in the NBA with draft picks Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. providing the foundation for the Nuggets’ success.
Wojnarowski reported that the Nuggets tried to convince Connelly to stay with a massive financial offer of their own but Connelly considered the ownership equity with the Timberwolves as “life-changing money.”
Whatever the reason, the Timberwolves’ new ownership group of Rodriguez and Marc Lore have made their first splash hire. It just appears they need to work on keeping things under wraps.
