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Rudy Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed to a three-year, $110 million contract extension, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Gobert is declining his $46.6 million player option for 2025-26 and is signing a new multi-year extension to keep him in Minnesota through the 2027-28 season, Charania added.
“As negotiations went on, Gobert expressed faith in the Timberwolves’ approach to contention and exploring a creative route to receive financial security and allowing the organization to continue adding pieces,” Charania wrote.
The news came just prior to the team’s season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
Prior to the deal, the Timberwolves entered the 2025-26 season $107.9 million over the salary cap, per Spotrac. ESPN’s Bobby Marks provided more insight:
Gobert averaged 14.0 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks through 76 games, all starts, in 2023-24 during his second season with Minnesota.
The veteran center capped off his fourth career DPOY campaign by averaging one block per playoff game, while guarding star opponents like the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić, to help power the Timberwolves to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2004.
After struggling to connect with shooting guard Anthony Edwards during his first campaign with the Timberwolves, Gobert started clicking with Edwards during the latter half of 2023-24.
Their chemistry allowed the Wolves to improve their pick-and-roll and achieve the team’s first 50-win regular season in two decades.
The Wolves now have both stars locked in for the near future after Edwards signed a five-year max extension of his own in 2023.
Gobert was previously under contract through 2024-25, with a player option through 2026, after signing one of the biggest contracts in NBA history with the Utah Jazz in 2020.
He left $23 million on the table when signing that five-year, $205 million extension to help the team that drafted him in 2013 build around him, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported.
The Timberwolves then sent five players and five picks to the Jazz in order to take on that contract in 2022 when trading for Gobert.
That steep price was worth it for Minnesota to settle on a long-term starting center and skilled defender who can help the franchise contend for a title in the near future.
Gobert is set to remain a key part of the Wolves’ rotation, which will look different this fall following the trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks, with Julius Randle likely to swap in for Towns in the starting lineup.
Towns and Gobert formed a dominant pairing when both on the floor last season. Gobert will now need to focus on establishing similar chemistry with the Wolves’ new star big as the team looks to make an even deeper playoff run next spring.
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