Timberwolves Might Not Be Done This Offseason With One Big Roster Hole

The Minnesota Timberwolves have had a productive offseason with the major addition of LaMelo Ball via trade with the Charlotte Hornets and they've also secured a reliable guard in Ayo Dosunmu by signing him to a five-year contract extension, but the Minnesota roster still has holes that the Timberwolves may still be looking to fill.

In order to make space for Ball, the Timberwolves traded Julius Randle to the Brooklyn Nets to shed his salary and they had to trader Naz Reid as the main piece of the package that the Timberwolves sent to the Hornets, and while those moves were worth it to bring in Ball, it's also left the Timberwolves in a precarious position. 

Without Randle and Reid on the roster, the Timberwolves are severely lacking in size and that's an issue that needs to be addressed. 

The Timberwolves front office is aware of that need as well, as one unnamed executive revealed in a recent interview with Spotrac.

“That’s the downside of the trade. We had to give up some size. The good news is that Rudy [Gobert] is still getting it done at a very high level. Jaden [McDaniels] can play either forward spot. Ant [Anthony Edwards] plays big and LaMelo is a big guard too,” a Minnesota front office executive said (via Spotrac). “But it’s something we’ll continue to work on throughout the offseason and in-season too."

It is true that Rudy Gobert is still a major defensive factor for the Timberwolves to rely on and Jaden McDaniels has consistently been a versatile asset for Minnesota with his own size and defensive capabilities, but those two alone aren't enough of a physical presence to turn the tide for the Timberwolves and while Ball is a great offensive agent for Minnesota, he won't be much of a defensive actor on the floor. 

To address these issues, the Timberwolves do have a few options in the current free agent market. They were going to be truly ambitious, they could be a late-game contender for Jonathan Kuminga, or they could be more conservative in their pursuits and go after players like Maxi Kleber or Guerschin Yabusele, both who may be more attainable free agents.

Another option for the Timberwolves could be a reunion with Kevin Love, who played the first six seasons of his career with the Timberwolves. Going after Love would certainly be a short-term solution, as Love would be playing in his 19th season, but it would help address the Timberwolves' size issues for the time being. 

No matter the direction that the Timberwolves take to address their size and defense problems, the fact that they have them at all is apparent and based on the report from the Timberwolves' executive, they do have the intention of addressing that problem either now or as the season progresses.