Tim Connelly (born May 15, 1976) is an American basketball executive who is the president of basketball operations of the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). He previously worked for the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

and

New Orleans Hornets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

, before becoming president of basketball operations at the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

. He served for the Nuggets from June 2013 onwards, until May 23, 2022, when Connelly agreed to a five-year, $40 million contract with the

to take over in the same role within the organization.

Early life

Tim Connelly was raised in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

. He grew up with four other brothers and two sisters. After attending

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

in New York, Connelly transferred to

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univers ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

for his junior year.

Executive career

Washington Wizards

In his junior year, Connelly wrote to Chuck Douglas, the director of college scouting for the

. He became an intern for the Wizards in 1996 in the basketball operations department. He became an assistant video coordinator in 1999. Connelly became a full-time scout in 2000, and was promoted to the director of player personnel. During his tenure with the Wizards, Connelly worked under NBA legend Wes Unseld.

New Orleans Hornets

In 2010, Connelly joined the front office of the

. He became assistant general manager under Dell Demps. Connelly's duties included scouting, trade negotiations, player contracts, and draft preparations.

Denver Nuggets

On June 17, 2013, Connelly was named as the executive vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the

. He replaced former NBA Executive of the Year,

Masai Ujiri Michael Masai Ujiri (born July 7, 1970) is a professional basketball executive and former player who is the President (corporate title), president of the Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Ujiri was born in the Unite ...

. On June 15, 2017, it was announced that Connelly would be promoted to being the team's president of basketball operations for the purpose of retaining assistant general manager Artūras Karnišovas as the team's general manager. After years of missing out on the playoffs, Connelly and Karnišovas would help lead the team to the 2019 NBA playoffs, after previously missing out the first five seasons under his guidance. In 2020, Connelly finished in ninth place for the Executive of the Year Award. In

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, Connelly was responsible in part for bringing over Aaron Gordon and JaVale McGee. Connelly claims to have asked for permission from All-Star Center

Nikola Jokić Nikola Jokić ( ; sr-Cyrl, Никола Јокић ; born February 19, 1995) is a Serbian professional basketball player who is a Center (basketball), center for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the ...

before accepting the Gordon trade. Following the trade, Connelly said “The whole idea of trading people is really kind of gross to me...It doesn’t sound right. It doesn’t sit well with me...we have to acknowledge we’re in a different place than we’ve ever been. The playoff success last year, I think, speaks to what we’re capable of. I think we have the best coach in the league. I think we have the best player in the league. These guys have organically grown together and proven that they can beat anybody when we’re playing our brand of basketball.” The Nuggets won the

2023 NBA Finals The 2023 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 2022–23 NBA season, 2022–23 season and conclusion to 2023 NBA playoffs, the season's playoffs. In the best-of-seven playoff series, the Western Co ...

with the core that Connelly built.

Minnesota Timberwolves

On May 23, 2022, Connelly was hired by the

as the president of basketball operations. He was reportedly signed to a 5-year, $40 million contract by the Timberwolves. On July 6, 2022, Connelly traded five picks and five players for a 4-time

NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award The NBA Defensive Player of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1982–83 NBA season to the best defensive player of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of 124 sportswriters and b ...

winner

Rudy Gobert Rudy Gobert-Bourgarel ( , ; born June 26, 1992) is a French professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously played for the Utah Jazz who acquired him during the 2013 NBA d ...

Personal life

All four of Connelly's brothers, Pat, Joe, Dan, and Kevin, work as scouts or managers in the NBA or college basketball. Pat was previously the assistant general manager of the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

, while Joe works for the Washington Wizards in player development, Dan is an advanced scout for the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

, and Kevin runs a scouting service for high school players. Connelly is a fan of the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

. Connelly is married to wife, Negah. They have three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connelly, Tim Living people Catholic University of America alumni Denver Nuggets executives Fordham University alumni Minnesota Timberwolves executives NBA general managers New Orleans Hornets executives Sportspeople from Baltimore Washington Wizards executives Year of birth missing (living people)