Wolves Extend Qualifying Offer to Tyus Jones

The latest offseason domino for the Minnesota Timberwolves has fallen, this time involving Apple Valley’s own:

In Tyus’s case, the qualifying offer here for a one-year deal is $3.57 million dollars (while his cap hold will be just north of $7 million until the QO is accepted, pulled, or he signs a new contract with the team).

With the offer now officially extended, the Wolves will have the ability to match any offer Jones receives from another team. As is often the case with restricted free agents, Tyus’s market could be fairly quiet on Sunday night (the start of free agency), as teams usually stay away from offering deals to RFA’s early on because it locks up their books for a few days (while the original team decides whether or not to match).

So how exactly will this all play out? As you know, the Wolves currently have only one true PG on their roster (Jeff Teague), and have been linked to both Darius Garland and D’Angelo Russell over the last few weeks. With Garland now out of the picture, will the New Wolves Order align enough assets to land Russell via a sign-and-trade? Or, if the price is deemed too high, will the team simply sit back and wait for Jones to (possibly) receive other offers in the hopes of re-signing the local product to a team friendly discount?

Regardless of which direction the team ultimately goes, we should have a much clearer picture of what Rosas & Co. have up their sleeves later this weekend. If the draft was a sign of things to come, it’s going to be a wild and aggressive July for Minnesota.