The Minnesota Timberwolves are coming off a go to the Western Conference finals and have a lot of factors to believe they can advance even further this season.

For beginners, those factors pass the names of Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, and others.

But Minnesota is likewise up versus the wage cap and has little space to wiggle economically. Edwards and Towns are on max offers. Gobert is close to it. Jaden McDaniels is going into the very first season of a five-year extension.

Basically, the Timberwolves remain in uncharted area when it concerns wage and high-end tax charges. So that will make novice Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. much more crucial when it concerns establishing rapidly and ending up being instant parts of the rotation.

“We don’t want to put too much on any young guy’s shoulders, but we’re gonna put a lot on their shoulders,” Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly informed  Darren Wolfson of KTSP. “Obviously, they’re going to have to prove they’ve earned those minutes. But where we are, we’ve become a pretty expensive team, so we’re going to have to find some spots for these young guys.”

Dillingham is a 6-foot-1 point player and was picked with the No. 8 general choice in the 2024 NBA Draft. Shannon is a 6-6 guard and was taken at No. 27.

Dillingham has a terrific instructor in Conley, while Dillingham can support both Edwards and McDaniels.

“We know it’s not always going to be pretty, but most importantly they buy into [Wolves head coach Chris Finch],” Connelly informed Wolfson. “We’re not expecting perfection, we’re just expecting a commitment to do things the way we do them.”

Connelly, for the record, is the previous head of basketball operations for the Denver Nuggets — the group the Timberwolves knocked out of the West semifinals last season.