Naz Reid signing gives the Timberwolves options now and in the future

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

The talented big man recently agreed to a three-year extension with the Timberwolves.

The Minnesota Timberwolves boast the deepest center room in the NBA. Their franchise cornerstone, Karl-Anthony Towns, is a three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA honoree. He starts at the 4 to accommodate the man they moved a mountain of picks and players for last summer: Rudy Gobert, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, four-time All-NBA selection and three-time All-Star. Rounding out the trio is Naz Reid, a 23-year-old, ultra-skilled big man who inked a three-year, $42 million extension with Minnesota earlier this week, months removed from his finest NBA campaign yet.

In his fourth season, the former LSU Tiger averaged 11.5 points (61.7 percent true shooting), 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 18.4 minutes per game. He shot 65.3 percent on twos and 34.6 percent beyond the arc. During the 11 games he started, playing 26.1 minutes a night, he averaged 16.5 points (57.8 percent true shooting), 7.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks.

Per 36 minutes, he slapped down 22.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals. Reid’s playing time is suppressed because of circumstance rather than ability. His team is built around two centers already, not to mention other high points of the roster include forwards Jaden McDaniels and Kyle Anderson. He is not a reserve who merely shines in a background role and generates inflated per-minute stats as a result. He is a starting-caliber big man whose presence and game reinforces the strength of the Timberwolves’ identity.

Reid is one of the NBA’s most versatile offensive centers. He can roll or pop off of screens, facilitate dribble handoffs, create as a face-up scorer or driver, and pilot fast breaks as the conductor. The root of his distinct skill-set resides in his handle, flexibility and footwork, which belie his 6’9”, 265-found frame. Reid’s mystifyingly adept as a handler and utilizes his unique flexibility to frequent spots on the floor like-sized defenders can’t match. Pair those traits with his touch and fluidity, and he’s constantly cooking fellow big man. Over 35 percent of his field goals were self-created last year, per PBPstats, and he yielded an effective field goal percentage of 55.5 on them — 5.6 points above the NBA average.

He loves firmly planting his inside leg for an arrhythmic cadence to fashion space and scores. Watching him create off the bounce is a joy. According to NBA.com, he shot 63.2 percent on his 201 drives last season. He resembles a wing in these clips, not someone who plays over 80 percent of their minutes manning the middle.

Whereas Gobert is a rigid roller and Towns is best flaring beyond the arc out of ball-screens, Reid brings a blend of both aspects to Minnesota’s rotation. He’s a willing and viable shooter (34.6 percent from deep in 2022-23) and a slippery finisher. When he’s involved in a ball-screen action, his deployment can be amended based on defensive coverages. He’ll hoist triples, burn hasty closeouts or wiggle around weakside rotations to cash in with either hand around the bucket.

According to Cleaning The Glass, he shot 77 percent at the rim (83rd percentile among bigs) and 37 percent on above-the-break threes (67th percentile). His diversity is a tremendous boon. He shapeshifts for different ball-handlers. With Anthony Edwards, his floor-spacing complements Edwards’ speeding-bullet-in-sneakers approach downhill. With D’Angelo Russell, Mike Conley Jr., Patrick Beverley and Jordan McLaughlin the last couple years, all limited interior scorers, Reid’s rolling is the suitable fit to provide a release valve. The depth to his play-finishing is rare among his league-wide contemporaries.

To summarize above: he bangs home a movement long ball, finishes around help from a low man, shot fakes into a drive and springy reverse dunk, short rolls and gathers around his defender for a slam, and corrals an errant pocket pass to immediately contort past Damian Lillard for the layup. That’s adaptive, impressive usage.

Despite a negative assist-to-turnover ration for his career, including last year, I do consider Reid a witty passer, particularly in advantageous situations and he’s helped neutralize zone defenses for the Timberwolves a good deal. Minnesota’s offense would benefit from more players who double as legit scoring threats and sharp processors like Reid. Anderson and Jordan McLaughlin meet the criteria, but aren’t self-creators or volume scorers such as Reid. In an environment where he’s less focused on play-finishing and instructed to initiate more offense for everyone, not just himself, I could see Reid’s assist numbers leap considerably. The talent is there, it’s a matter of further refinement and opportunity.

The question that looms is whether a grander opportunity can imminently present itself for Reid with Minnesota. Towns and Gobert will presumably total a combined ~65 minutes each game next season. McDaniels is already quite good and perhaps a budding two-way star who plays the 3 and the 4. Anderson, with his passing, rebounding, movement and defense, is an integral rotation cog who toggles across positions, though has consistently been optimized as a 4. Among them and Reid, that’s five of the Timberwolves’ six or seven best players battling for 144 minutes available minutes at three spots. Someone is getting squeezed. Last season, Reid often got squeezed for playing time.

The potential solution to this frontcourt logjam is to wheel and deal. I’d argue it’s too early for any drastic move that grants Reid a starting gig there (a la trading Towns or Gobert). Minnesota’s 2022-23 was choppy. Towns and Gobert only played 32 games together, which hamstrung any chance of finding the ideal way to harmonize together. The fit is tenuous, but not hopeless and signs of progress surfaced later in the year. A full season to figure things out may truly amplify the pairing.

Edwards and McDaniels will continue to blossom. Conley’s midseason arrival in place of Russell was a boon. Maybe, Jaylen Nowell rediscovers his 2021-22 groove following a down year or another young guy pops. Renewed health for Towns, who only suited up for 29 regular season games, should help. Minnesota losing in five games against Denver, three of which were closely contested outings, looks far less damning eight weeks later after the Nuggets steamrolled through the entire playoffs en route to a ring. Reid and McDaniels were also sidelined the entire series.

But the roster still seems incomplete and flawed. The spacing is cramped. The lack of scoring punch and snappy processing exists. If the Timberwolves experience another year jockeying for a Play-In berth while the Towns-Gobert fit remains creaky offensively and Reid thrives again, reorganizing the frontcourt to address holes elsewhere may be worth entertaining.

Could moving Towns be an avenue to recoup some of the immense draft capital lost in the Gobert acquisition, bolster aforementioned roster shortcomings and give Reid the starter’s minutes he’s equipped to handle? The New York Knicks, New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder are all teams stocked with picks and various intriguing young guys who make logistical sense for Towns’ skill-set.

Heck, could they move both headlining bigs and dive into a rebuild led by Edwards, McDaniels and Reid? That’s an intriguing, albeit obviously daunting and precarious, pivot if this current group hovers around .500 again in 2023-24 and the steps the franchise hoped to achieve after an encouraging 2021-22 are still out of reach.

I’m by no means suggesting the Timberwolves should immediately abandon ship on this experiment. It’s simply something worth assessing throughout the year, given they’ll be paying three dudes maximized at center a combined $90 million next season and all might be held back by the current composition of the team. That’s a challenging manner in which to build a winner when the rotation could use more juice in other areas.

For now, though, the Timberwolves retained Reid, despite other suitors looking to pry him away. That is good for them. They should hold some optimism entering the fall, in part because of all he provides. And he himself should hold loads of optimism because he is a damn good player on the ascent, regardless of how many minutes he sees nightly.