According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Tim Connelly has signed a deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves to become their President of Basketball Operations. He had the same position with the Denver Nuggets, but decided to leave because he got paid a 5 year, 40 million dollar contract with ownership equity.
Tim Connelly was one of the building blocks of the Nuggets culture and was responsible for a lot of the roster decisions made over the last decade of Nuggets basketball. Him leaving is a big deal, and now leaves a big void in the Nuggets front office. Whether that is filled by Calvin Booth or an external hire remains to be seen. The deal that lured him away from the Nuggets makes him one of the highest paid executives in the league. Stan Kroenke decided that he wasn’t going to do what it took to keep Tim, and it is what it is. Now the Nuggets have to look forward, and can’t dwell on the departure.
With the shift of decision makers before one of the most important offseasons of the Jokic era, it is a worrying sight. The supermax extension will still be offered to Jokic, and will likely be signed. However, this could be the start to him seeing the organization is not as committed to winning as he thought. It was a tough offer to match, but Connelly was important to the team’s culture and roster. He had many relationships with players and coaches that were closer than most executives and players. He was involved in the day-to-day things, and made sure that everyone was as happy as they could be. The Nuggets will try to find someone to replace that, and we will see what the future holds.
