Tim Connelly wanted to add Kawhi Leonard to Timberwovles

Timberwolves basketball boss Tim Connelly has been a big-game hunter since arriving in Minnesota.

His big deals include acquiring Rudy Gobert in 2022 and landing LaMelo Ball this summer. But there have been countless other rumors in between, with Connelly and Minnesota mentioned essentially any time an all-star caliber player could be on the move.

The Wolves were also in on Kawhi Leonard this offseason, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported.

Charania went on TSN’s OverDrive this week after the deal that sent Leonard from the Clippers back to Toronto, where the forward won an NBA title in 2019, was finalized, and noted the Raptors were the team with whom Leonard was willing to sign a post-trade extension.

Leonard had one year left on his existing deal entering the offseason. Charania noted there were other teams that wanted to trade for and extend Leonard, such as Detroit and, yes, Minnesota, among others.

“But he made a decision … to essentially weed out where he wanted to play, where he wanted to be,” Charania said. “This is a legacy play for Kawhi Leonard. There’s no doubt about it.”