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Gasol will turn 32 next week and played nearly 39,000 minutes in his career, raising the question if he has enough gas left in the tank to help turn the Timberwolves into a legitimate contender.
Williams knows the Wolves tried to deal him, but it's unclear how he will respond if he's still on the team at the start of training camp.
He averaged 8.8 points and 4.7 rebounds and was the only Timberwolves player to play in all 66 games last season. Williams had several big games during an inconsistent season, which included participating in the slam dunk contest during All-Star weekend. He scored 27 points in 27 minutes in a win over the Clippers in Los Angeles on Feb. 28 and had 27 points and eight boards in a loss at Denver on April 11.
But the 66-year-old Adelman has been pushing for the franchise to add more veterans, and he grew impatient at times with Williams last season.
Williams did most of his damage while playing power forward, which is the same position played by Love, who blossomed last year into a surprising MVP contender. With Love playing so many minutes at power forward, the Timberwolves were hoping Williams could drop some weight this summer to help him become quick enough to play small forward for the majority of the time.
Earlier this week, Kahn said Williams was already down to 233 pounds, with a personal goal of 225.
"I think the most important fact about Derrick to me is that he turned 21 last month. He's still very, very young," Kahn said Wednesday. "This is a very important summer for him to demonstrate if he's serious about his craft, his occupation, that he's serious about himself. This is the offseason. I challenged him in his exit interview, and I'm eager to see the results of this summer."
Kahn declined to list Williams with Rubio and Love as "untouchable" players when the team considers trades this summer.
"We have two untouchables," Kahn said. "That doesn't mean everyone else will be traded this summer. We just don't know."
[Associated Press;
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