NBA salary cap exercise: What player would every team amnesty?

Minnesota Timberwolves – James Johnson

Somehow a Minnesota Timberwolves team that is one of the few Western Conference teams to not be invited to the bubble still had a payroll this season of $132.5 million. Some of this is due to enormous cap hits for Evan Turner ($18.6 million) and Allen Crabbe ($17.8 million and no longer on the team) that will be coming off the books as soon as the league year turns.

Also, it is nice to have two young All-Stars in Karl-Anthony Towns (5-years, $155.9 million including this year) and D’Angelo Russell (4-years, $117.3 million including this year) but it can get expensive.

The payroll will drop this offseason to $96 million before they even consider trying to add new players and bring back Malik Beasley. Beasley looked like a star in 14 games with Minnesota after the trade, averaging 20.7 points and 5.1 rebounds after seeing his minutes nearly double from his time in Denver this season.

Cuts need to be made and the team will be hoping James Johnson will decline his player option. That was unlikely even before the pandemic limited the market. Johnson is a fine veteran presence and put out solid play in his minimal time in Minnesota after a severe drop-off made him expendable in Miami. Paying him $16 million as you are trying to build around this core feels like malpractice, even if it is for only one year.