The Timberwolves are in decent shape.
Free agency had barely opened Tuesday night when the Minnesota Timberwolves already knew who they wanted running the bench.
Bones Hyland agreed to return on a one-year, minimum salary deal worth close to 2.9 million dollars, a deal that came together before most teams made their first call of the summer.
This is his third stint with the organization since Tim Connelly drafted him in Denver in 2021, and the bond between the two has only grown since Connelly brought him back to Minnesota last February.
Hyland has said more than once that Minnesota feels like where he belongs, and given how much the roster has changed around him this summer, his return gives the backcourt a piece of continuity that plenty of the roster no longer has.
This offseason already turned Minnesota's roster upside down.
The front office moved on from Julius Randle in a trade with Brooklyn, then sent Naz Reid to Charlotte in the deal that landed LaMelo Ball and wing Josh Green, with Ball coming off a season in Charlotte where he averaged 20.1 points, 7.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds.
Minnesota also locked up Ayo Dosunmu on a five-year extension, brought back Jaylen Clark on a team-friendly deal , and spent the 33rd pick on Duke wing Isaiah Evans .
The guard room lost pieces too, with Donte DiVincenzo expected to miss most of next season while he recovers from a torn Achilles and Mike Conley leaving for a one-year deal with the Boston Celtics the following morning, closing out a four-year run in Minnesota.
The full breakdown of how the depth chart shifted shows just how much turnover the roster has gone through since Minnesota finished 49-33 as the sixth seed and lost to San Antonio in six games during the Western Conference semifinals.
The path to real minutes is about as open as it gets.
Ball and Anthony Edwards will handle the backcourt starting jobs, and Terrence Shannon Jr. and Dosunmu figure to split time at small forward.
This leaves the second unit needing someone who can create offense without needing the ball in his hands the whole shift, a role that fits Hyland well.
He averaged 8.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 16.6 minutes a night last season while shooting close to 39 percent from three, numbers that helped him take the backup point guard job away from Rob Dillingham by mid-December.
His chemistry with Dosunmu in transition, a pairing the team nicknamed Twin Turbos, only adds to the case for keeping him around on a minimum salary.
Clark profiles as a defender first, Green just arrived from Charlotte, and Evans still has to prove himself as a rookie, so none of them are pushing Hyland out of the scoring role he already built for himself.
His shooting cooled off once the Spurs series wore on, but Minnesota clearly still views him as the most proven option to fuel the bench heading into next season.
