NBA Free Agency: Minnesota Timberwolves Targeting O.J. Mayo

The Minnesota Timberwolves were looking to make some serious improvements in the NBA Draft and so far that seems to have happened. But with the new additions of Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng, Minnesota lost a key piece of their team on Saturday when Andrei Kirilenko opted out of his contract right ahead of free agency.

But while Kirilenko’s loss might sting a bit, the Wolves are already focused on what they want to do with the extra cap space and Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune is reporting that O.J. May remains a name that Minnesota will be targeting once free agency begins on July 1st.

"Kirilenko’s decision now gives the Wolves the option to use that money to pursue a starting small forward or shooting guard — Dallas unrestrictred free agent O.J. Mayo is a likely target — through free agency or a trade."

Minnesota still needs a presence at shooting guard as they simply don’t have one at the moment. Some thought that perhaps Trey Burke was going to be converted to a shooting guard but he was quickly traded away to the Utah Jazz for Muhammad and Dieng. There was then the thought of maybe shifting Shabazz, who’s a small forward, over to shooting guard given his offensive ability but that doesn’t seem too likely either.

Mayo was a target for the Wolves last offseason before he settled on signing in Dallas. But now that he’s on the lookout for work again, the much more improved Wolves may have a better case when it comes to selling Mayo on coming to Minneapolis.