Just prior to free agency, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor told the Pioneer Press young stars Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns were “kind of untouchable” in terms of trade negotiations.

A lot has changed in the month that followed, with Minnesota signing three veterans — Jeff Teague, Taj Gibson and Jamal Crawford — and, just last week, a report saying Kyrie Irving wants out of Cleveland and Minnesota is one of his preferred destinations.

On Friday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the Timberwolves were one of six teams that have sent trade proposals to the Cavaliers in pursuit of Irving’s services. Wiggins’ name has swirled in Irving trade rumors for the last week, but Taylor’s stance on Wiggins and Towns hasn’t changed — they’re still untouchable.

“It’s the way I look at it,” Taylor said. “These guys have been the key guys and the youth, and I think we still want to see ourselves as a long-term contender and I think we want to keep these young guys on our team.”

Taylor seems confident the Wolves will get a contract extension done with Wiggins this summer. The former No. 1 overall draft pick, who has one year left on his rookie deal, recently told The Crossover he’s worth “nothing less” than the maximum extension, which will be in the neighborhood of a five-year, $148 million deal. Taylor had no timeframe on when a deal would be reached. The deadline is Oct. 16.

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Jace Frederick: Timberwolves’ No. 1 pick likely not enough to trade for established star “We’ve already talked to them,” Taylor said. “I don’t think there’s any pressure for either party to do it right now, but I see it preceding along in kind of a normal process. In the past I’ve always seen these things drag out longer than I think they should. So I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes a while, but I don’t have any concerns that we’ll get it done.”

Outside of Wiggins, Towns and Gorgui Dieng, Taylor has had to deal with the departure of much of Minnesota’s previous core this summer. Zach LaVine was traded to Chicago in the deal to acquire Jimmy Butler, Ricky Rubio was sent to Utah in a trade, and it doesn’t look like Shabazz Muhammad is coming back after the Wolves renounced his rights earlier this summer. Taylor admitted it’s been hard to say some of those goodbyes.

“It was part of our goal (to win around that core) and those guys worked on it,” he said. “We were having a lot of fun and I wished we could’ve kept them all together, I wish we would’ve done better last year. So, yeah, I would say it was hard on me, but the goal is to win the championship and if there’s another route I can’t be an impediment and get in the way when we see another way, and I think (president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau) and (general manager Scott Layden) have given us an alternative which we can (use to) get there faster.”

Taylor sees the advantages in the veterans Minnesota has brought on board. He thinks they’ll speed up the process of becoming a better defensive team and they’ll help add maturity in the locker room and confidence on the floor.

“It might give all of our players out there (a belief) that we can win a lot of these games where we got down to the last quarter and sort of blew it (last season),” Taylor said. “But maybe with the guys on the floor, I think that’s kind of an image thing. They look at themselves, they get confidence. I think it’s kind of a hard one to measure, but I think it’ll be there.”

Taylor thinks the three-point shooting will be improved, too. Yes, the Wolves lost a sharpshooter in LaVine, but Taylor thinks Butler, Crawford and Teague can all be a part of the shooting solution. He said Wiggins continues to make three-point shooting a priority in the offseason, as well.

The Wolves made moves to win now this offseason, in a summer during which many thought it made more sense to sit pat and wait out the dominant Warriors, who coasted to their second NBA championship in three years last month. The Wolves, like nearly every other team in the Western conference, instead decided to try to rise to the challenge.

“We looked at the Warriors and said, ‘That’s our goal,’ and what can we do to find ourselves so that we can be competitive against them,” Taylor said. “We didn’t do it in a group knowing what the other teams (in the West) were going to do. … In fact, it appears about six other teams had a similar goal and did the same thing, so it’s really going to be an interesting West this year.”

Taylor said there’s “every reason” to believe the Wolves can be a playoff team this year, but he admitted he doesn’t know what will happen with many of the other revamped teams in the West. He noted the number of bold roster moves made around the conference and surmised that some will work beautifully and some will not, and it’s difficult to figure out which will do what. There’s also the unknown of injuries, which no one can predict.

“But, certainly, we have put together a group of people here that I think are very good,” Taylor said. “And if they play together as a team, there’s no reason not to see us win a lot of games, especially if we get onto a thing where we defend our home court.”

Can they give the Warriors a run?

“I think we can,” Taylor said. “We’ve got to get ourselves into the playoffs. Once you get there, I think just anything can happen. They’re a very good team and I don’t think on paper that I could persuade anybody that we are better than they are, but it doesn’t always work that way.

“You get there, injuries happen, sometimes players, their game is off for a week or something, small things like that, the ball bounces the right way, so you just want to be close and then it can happen. I don’t want to say we’re a better team than they are.”