The Minnesota Timberwolves spent all of last season living with a financial subplot to their brilliant season.

“What are you going to do next summer, when the extensions for Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Karl-Anthony Towns go into effect?”

While Towns is setting up screens for Jalen Brunson in New York, we all get to know the answer. The Wolves decided to go the route of financial flexibility, acquiring Julius Randle, who will enter next summer with a player option, and Donte DiVincenzo, one of the best contracts currently in the NBA.

You’d think that would be the end. Guess again.

The Wolves are, once again, facing a summer that could force major changes, this time with a player who has captured the imagination of Wolves fans: Naz Reid.

The 6-foot-9 Reid has become a favorite, cemented by fans tattooing his name on their bodies and his name is used as an argument for how good he is. It’s not uncommon to see signs in the crowd at Timberwolves games that simply say “Naz Reid,” an almost elegant simplicity based on the fact that his effective play has found a direct path into the hearts of Timberwolves fans.

Reid, who won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award last season, is a very competent scorer who scored 13.5 points in just 24.6 minutes per game, while also providing a legitimate floor-spacing component. (41.4% on five 3-point attempts per game). ) in Minnesota’s run to the Western Conference finals.

So why would Minnesota let a player like Reid go?

If I had any control over the situation, I wouldn’t have it. But unfortunately for the Timberwolves, they were left stranded due to CBA regulations that limit veteran extensions to 140% of the final salary year, a percentage Reid is extremely unlikely to accept, considering a new extension would start at just $21 million. based on his $15 million salary next season, when he is eligible for an extension.

(The 140% veteran extension cap, just in case, allows teams to choose the higher of 140% of last year’s salary or 140% of league-wide average salary, but neither should be enough to attract Reid.)

To be fair, the Wolves can keep Reid next summer even if he opts out of his final year and the aforementioned $15 million. They have his Bird Rights and could get him back in any deal they want, but he would enter unrestricted free agency, which automatically means he becomes a flight risk.

Since the Wolves can’t even offer him an extension until June 25, 2025, it would be absolutely shocking if Reid didn’t enter free agency.

Would Reid agree to return to the Wolves if a team competing for his services offered him more money and a chance to start, while the Wolves try to sell him a future in which he plays behind Randle and Rudy Gobert?

That’s a question only Reid can answer, and maybe he loves Minnesota enough to do just that. Stranger things have happened. But no matter how you split the pizza, there is considerable risk in allowing him to hit unrestricted free agency.

Does that mean the organization will look to move him before the February trade deadline to get something in return? It’s unlikely, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility, especially if the franchise’s reading of the situation indicates that Reid is leaning toward going somewhere where he can start and establish himself as a potential star.

Of course, Reid’s situation underscores a larger problem, one that isn’t specific to the Wolves.

The 140% extension cap actively penalizes teams that negotiate well and hurts both teams and players.

Let’s go 408 miles southeast from the Target Center to the United Center in Chicago, where the Bulls find themselves in an equally difficult situation.

The organization gave new deals to both Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu in the summer of 2023, both extremely team-friendly. As a result, White will earn just $12 million this season and Dosunmu $7 million.

White is on the verge of being an All-Star and Dosunmu would be a starter for several teams around the league, which means they are underpaid.

The Bulls could offer both 140% of the league average salary, which only Dosunmu could consider, but it’s still an offer that comes with a fairly set ceiling. If Dosunmu plays the entire 2024-25 season like he did last year, averaging 16.3 points and 4.4 assists on a 52/43/83 line, he too will surely be looking for money that exceeds what the Bulls can offer with an extension. .

The Bulls can wait and allow both to enter unrestricted free agency, which for White and Dosunmu will be in 2026, to offer them significant deals. But given that Chicago has been a mediocre franchise over the last decade, both players could be gone.

Again, this problem goes back to the 140% rule, which under the old collective bargaining agreement was 120%. The percentage increase was so marginal that only one All-Star caliber player, Dejounte Murray, signed an extension under the new rule. That extension, $120 million over four years, was widely considered to be below its market value.

The 140% limit does not help teams or players.

The Wolves and Bulls would certainly love to have the option to extend their players and not risk them hitting free agency.

Players would love to have long-term financial stability based on their market values.

It seems curious that both the players association and the owners actively increased the extension cap, but never realized how the problem would persist. The salary cap is about to explode 10% annually due to the new TV deal, and even the supermax contracts account for a lower cap percentage year over year.

When asked if team owners and the players’ association could come together to modify the collective bargaining agreement, NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum told Yahoo Sports that such a scenario would be technically possible.

“We are always evaluating the impact and the result. Do the rules we implement have the desired impact? And in some particular cases we will review them and analyze them, and as long as the owners and the players agree to make an adjustment, to make a change, we can do it,” Tatum said.

As for whether a change specifically to the 140% extension limit is being considered, Tatum said it’s a conversation that hasn’t been had yet.

“In this particular case, we have not had that conversation yet, but we continue to evaluate and analyze it, and if we believe that a change is necessary, we will do so subject to the agreement of both parties. Tatum said.

Ultimately, 140% was never going to be a high enough number for both sides to benefit, especially when it comes to players moving up a level over the life of their non-rookie contracts, and until the players association and owners of teams realize their shared problem and If we face it, we will see many players and many teams find themselves in precarious situations, some of which will lead to unnecessary trades.