Naz Reid extension: Timberwolves now paying too much at center position

The Timberwolves center signed Naz Reid to a three-year contract that has Minnesota overpaying at the position unless other moves follow.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Timberwolves and Naz Reid have agreed to an extension worth $42 million over three seasons. This comes after the player was involved in trade rumors and linked to multiple teams at last season’s trade deadline.

Reid is a very solid player in this league but his talent limits him to being a backup who can be the sixth or seven rotational player on a top team. To be clear, this is something to be very proud of.

Reid came into the league as an undrafted player. While this move is certainly respectable due to the fact Reid is a fine player, Minnesota is committing over $91 million to centers. This is way too much.

Why would the Timberwolves commit so much money to the center position?

The Timberwolves are in a very bad place. After one season, it is clear that the Rudy Gobert trade was a huge mistake. Yes, Karl-Anthony Towns was not fully healthy for the whole season. Still, this team is nowhere near the title contender they probably thought themselves to be after trading a haul of their own picks for the All-Star.

Some analysts have pointed out that the only way for this team to get out of this situation would be to trade Towns for a haul of draft picks. Gobert will not get the needed draft picks back in any trade return so the team is stuck with him until a new front office comes in.

It has been suggested that the team should try and trade Towns to save Anthony Edwards from requesting a trade down the line.

Edwards certainly is one of the best young players in the league and could be a franchise cornerstone for the team. If the team puts the right pieces around Edwards, he could end up leading the Timberwolves to their best season in the history of their franchise. The way to make sure that they have enough center depth after trading Towns would be to keep Reid.

This is the only way that this move makes sense. Towns doesn’t have to get traded this offseason but this allows the team to have flexibility with that decision. Otherwise, this extension reeks of a team trying to keep an asset just to make sure they don’t lose him for nothing.