Minnesota Timberwolves: Nemanja Bjelica Signing On The Horizon

By Aaron Mah | Jul 5, 2015

Mar 4, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders and Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett (21) talk during a timeout in the second half against the Denver Nuggets at Target Center. The Nuggets won 100-85. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

While the perennial contenders around the association — most notably, the Texas twosome of the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs — proceed to reel in the grand prizes of the 2015 NBA free agency class by acquiring the services of DeAndre Jordan and LaMarcus Aldridge (two big men with contrasting games but each with three capital letters in their names), respectively, the Minnesota Timberwolves have been relatively quiet since their historical draft night a little more than a week ago.

However, Jerry Zgoda of the Star-Tribune reported Thursday that the Wolves are well on their way to agreeing in principle to signing the reigning EuroLeague MVP and the team’s 2010 second-round draft pick, Nemanja Bjelica, to a three-year, $12 million deal; thereby, utilizing approximately two-thirds of their mid-level exception.

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More specifically, Bjelica exercised his $1.3 million “out” clause on Wednesday — paid partly by the Wolves — with his Turkish club, Fenerbahce Ulker, allowing the 6-foot-10 Serbian to take his talents to the NBA.

The 27-year old will most likely play at the power forward position exclusively next season, in the role of a ballhandling stretch 4.

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Although adding Bjelica, and the likely re-signing of Kevin Garnett, will ostensibly force Wolves head coach Flip Saunders to play the No. 1 overall pick of this past year’s draft, Karl-Anthony Towns, at center (as opposed to playing him at the 4 spot, thus negating his most distinguished strengths), it also curates a glaring logjam in the Timberwolves frontcourt.

Explicitly, Minnesota will most likely house Towns, Garnett, and Bjelica, in addition to the often-injured Nikola Pekovic, Gorgui Dieng, Adreian Payne, and Anthony Bennett at the center and power forward positions.

If the Wolves were to bring back Robbie Hummel, an extolled favorite of Saunders, the team will surely trade at least one of the aforementioned bigs in an effort to balance out their 15-man opening day roster.

The player most see as being on the outside looking in is undoubtedly the 2013 No. 1 overall pick, Bennett — who has been conveniently left out of Minnesota’s Summer League preparation scrimmage scheduled for Wednesday at the Target Center.

Whether the Wolves can get a taker for Bennett before the 2015-16 NBA season commences remains to be seen, but for now, one thing is for certain: if Minnesota proceeds to sign Bjelica, the highly-accomplished Euroleague star will be an instant contributor and may be the answer for the team’s exhaustive search for a resident modern-day hybrid 4.

In the meantime, the Timberwolves will begin practicing for the Las Vegas Summer League this Monday. The participants will include rookies Towns and Tyus Jones, along with the team’s battalion of young pups, such as Shabazz Muhammad, Dieng, Zach LaVine, and Andrew Wiggins.

However, Wiggins is not expected to play in Vegas, as alternatively he will be wearing the Maple Leaf red and suiting up for the Canadian national team this summer instead.

Next: Minnesota Timberwolves: Draft Grades & Takeaways

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