The Dallas Mavericks’ alleged crush on Tim Connelly won’t lead to a relationship.
After months of rumors suggesting the Mavericks had eyes on Connelly to become their next president of basketball operations, Dallas has agreed to hire former Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri.
Shams Charania reports that Ujiri will be the team president and alternate governor of the Mavericks. That move comes just days after NBA insider Marc Stein reported that the chances of Dallas connecting with Connelly, who has been Minnesota’s president of basketball operations since 2022, were fading.
Stein updated the situation in his latest Substack rumblings on Sunday: “As I first reported late Thursday/early Friday [on Twitter] shortly after Minnesota completed a six-game undressing of rival Denver in Round 1, there is a growing resignation in Dallas that the Mavericks will not be granted permission to speak with the Timberwolves’ Tim Connelly in their search for a new head of basketball operations.”
I know Tim Connelly was on the Mavs’ radar. I just never had the impression that it was close to happening. Big time addition by getting Masai Ujiri. And Connelly stays in Minnesota. Everyone wins
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) May 4, 2026
Minnesota owners, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, are clearly tightening the bolts on the doors to team headquarters since there is a strong chance that assistant general manager Matt Lloyd will get the general manager job in Chicago. If that happens, part of the Wolves’ brain trust, lead assistant coach Micah Nori, could follow Lloyd to Chicago as the Bulls’ 22nd head coach in franchise history.
Keeping Connelly fits the cohesion narrative that Rodriguez and Lore gushed about before the 2025-26 season began. Keeping the key members of the front office, coaching staff, and roster together could lead to long-term successes, much like Rodriguez experienced in his Major League Baseball career, specifically with the New York Yankees.
Rather than breaking up the roster and trading Jaden McDaniels and others for Giannis Antetokounmpo at trade deadline in February, the Wolves held firm with the current roster, instead sending Rob Dillingham and Leonard Miller, who were stuck at the end of a deep bench, and four second-round picks to the Bulls for guard Ayo Dosunmu.
Minnesota also decided to sign Julius Randle and Naz Reid to contract extensions during the offseason, only losing Nickeil Alexander-Walker from the 2025 team that reached the Western Conference Finals.
Roster integrity is clearly a value with the current Minnesota regime, which means keep Connelly, the man who helped build the roster around former president Gersson Rosas’s incredible 2020 draft haul featuring Anthony Edwards and McDaniels, is a top priority.
Perhaps the next move Minnesota makes will be signing Connelly to an extension. He’s only signed through the 2026-27 season, having opted into the final two years of the original $40 million deal that he signed in 2022.
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