The Timberwolves have announced the hiring of Tim Connelly as president of basketball operations, making his move from running the Nuggets official.
Connelly held the same position in Denver since 2013.
“We are thrilled to announce Tim Connelly as the next leader of our basketball operations department and welcome his family to the Twin Cities,” said Timberwolves owners Glen Taylor, Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore said in a statement. “He brings a wealth of NBA front office experience with various franchises. We look forward to building upon our most recent playoff run and bringing more success to Timberwolves fans for years to come.”
Connelly agreed to a five-year, $40 million contract, as well as ownership equity, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
“My family and I couldn’t be more excited to join the Timberwolves organization,” Connelly said. “I appreciate Glen, Becky, Marc and Alex’s confidence in me to lead this organization and I can’t wait to get to work to build an elite franchise that our fans can continue to be proud of.”
Connelly had similar flirtations with the Wizards a couple years ago, but turned down an offer there.
This deal, however, was clearly too good to pass up.
“Nuggets governor Josh Kroenke made a bid to keep Connelly, sources said, but an offer that would’ve made Connelly one of the higher-paid league executives was still dwarfed by the Timberwolves’ massive offer,” Wojnarowski reported. “Only a handful of top league executives have ownership equity as a part of their deals.”
Kroenke will hold a press conference later this week, marking the first time he has spoken to the media in several years. As we relayed earlier, the Nuggets are expected to promote GM Calvin Booth to Connelly’s old role.
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