Dane Moore

Today's show w/ Chris Finch - What the summer has looked like for Finch and the Wolves as a team - The addition of LaMelo Ball - Anthony Edwards becoming a leader and moving back to shooting guard, "where he belongs" - Coaching Rudy Gobert and the Wolves team trip to Paris this summer - Finch on being an "outsider" as a coach and betting on yourself

Because the Wolves would need cap space to offer Kuminga anything over $16M (the MLE), and they're already $25M over the cap for next season with the 8 players who are under contract for next season. If the Wolves wanted to give Kuminga say $25M in salary for next season, they would need to shed $50M in salary before being allowed to offer that $25M to Kuminga. And they don't have picks to add to incentivize teams taking on money. But yes, the Wolves could theoretically off load Gobert's salary for next season ($38M) to a team with $38M+ of cap space and take back no money. Might be hard to do, but theoretically possible. Or Gobert could opt out of his $38M player option entirely and sign elsewhere. If that somehow happened, they would then still need to shed an additional $12M to create that space -- with the options for shedding salary being Edwards ($52M), Ball ($44M), McDaniels ($28M), Dosunmu ($21M), Beringer ($5M), Shannon ($5M), Clark ($3M), Evans ($2M). And any players they send out, they would be required to replace, because teams are required to roster a minimum of 14 players. Additionally, DiVincenzo, Williams, Hyland and Lyles will be free agents. So that's why I didn't mention moving off Rudy as an option.

There are two paths to the Wolves re-signing Jonathan Kuminga -- and given the way he's playing right now, both seem like long shots. 1. The Wolves shed enough salary elsewhere to get $16M below the 1st apron, so they are able to offer Kuminga the $16M mid-level exception (up to 4 years, $70M if he wants to sign long-term). - Problem with this one is if Kuminga has offers for more than $16M the Wolves do not have the means to match that market value. Signing Kuminga to the mid-level exception would also hard-cap the Wolves at the 1st apron. 2. Kuminga signs another 1-year, cheap deal with non-bird rights ($7.5M -- 120% of his current salary) or with the mid-level exception ($16M), with the idea that after another year he would acquire what are called early bird rights that come with being on a team for two seasons. If Kuminga gets those early bird rights, starting in the 2028-29 season, the Wolves could offer him a 4-year, $125M contract. - Problem with this one is that it would require the patience to turn down bigger money and longer term offers next summer. The Wolves also already have $154M dedicated to just Edwards ($56M), Ball ($46M), McDaniels ($30M) and Dosunmu ($22M) for the 28-29 season. Signing Kuminga to that deal would put the Wolves over the salary cap for that season with just five contracts. And would that be enough for Kuminga? In 28-29, that 4-year, $125M contract will be about half of the max he could get offered on the market as an unrestricted free agent.

Good recap from Tim here about what I talked about on the show today. This stuff is better explained in writing.

Trey Lyles has been excellent. Finch gave him a 30-second rest, but has played him straight through the entire 2nd half other than that.

Well, that little stint of someone else trying to guard Zion proved that the Wolves would in fact be lost without Jonathan Kuminga.

Joan Beringer has been ruled out for the 2nd half with a nasal fracture

Ok, that made up for throwing the other one off Rudy's shoulder

Watched some Pels today in advance of the Wolves playing them tonight, and was reminded Saddiq Bey is a playoff-caliber rotation player sort of hidden away on this team.

Podcasts... iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas… Spotify + Spotify Video: open.spotify.com/episode/0v8…

The Win In Houston + Kuminga's Next Contract + Wolves Stats + Mailbag w/ Kyle Theige youtube.com/live/xIJA4XOwXJI…

Today's show w/ @KyleTheige - The Wolves' win in Houston (3:00) - Jonathan Kuminga's next contract (23:00) - The Wolves being top 5 on offense and defense thus far this season + Other Wolves stats (40:00) - Live mailbag from the chat (1:02:00)

Going live now

Doing the Friday pods with @KyleTheige live this season We'll recap the week and take live listener questions every Friday from 1030-1145 am CST Link below...

Today's show w/ @JonKrawczynski and @Gaardsy - Wolves-Rockets recpa - LaMelo's 4th Q takeover - Kuminga's clutch performance - The bench keeps stepping up - And more YouTube: youtube.com/live/QQhJ49ZjFX0… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3Cy… iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

Going live with @JonKrawczynski and @Gaardsy at 10am Link: youtube.com/live/QQhJ49ZjFX0…

Kuminga's been really, really good