Within weeks of the first game of the NBA season, the Minnesota Timberwolves are caught in the middle of a humiliating situation. Minnesota’s president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas was fired unexpectedly during a crucial time of the year. Sachin Gupta, Rosas’ EVP of basketball operations, has been promoted into the vacant role for the time being.
There was confusion and frustration earlier this week from fans and observers outside of the franchise. Now, details are surfacing and the motives behind the decision are becoming more clear. According to The Athletic, several events and factors led to the demise of Rosas. Staffers had been unhappy for some time with the way Rosas conducted business — his negotiating tactics were unorthodox and allegedly built on dishonest claims. The Athletic‘s Jon Krawczynski wrote, “Just this offseason, Rosas reneged during negotiations with restricted free agent Jordan McLaughlin and misled him about his role, according to a source directly involved in the talks.”
To add insult to injury, the Timberwolves became aware of an alleged relationship between Rosas and a team staff member. Rosas is a married man and his relationship was making other staff members uncomfortable. Although this was not the reason for his departure, this influenced the unfortunate timing when the organization decided that they had had enough.
The Timberwolves have never given much reason for fans to rejoice — aside from the ‘Garnett era’ and their 2004 Western Conference Finals win — and Rosas’ dismissal only adds to the dysfunctional state of the franchise.
Wolves’ star center Karl-Anthony Towns vocalized sentiments of the players, staff and fans with a short, yet insighful “wtf…”
