The Timberwolves had their busiest offseason in team history this past summer, but while general manager Kevin McHale was rebuilding the team, the player he was rebuilding around was doggedly silent on the subject.

Kevin Garnett finally touched on it Monday.

"I'm excited about the year. Everybody is excited to see how we're going to look, including ourselves," the star forward said. "It's cool."

Garnett, who spent a large part of the summer in California, spent Monday zipping around the Twin Cities. He was at Target Center as General Mills unveiled a Wheaties box featuring the 7-footer gracing the cover, and he attended the launch of a Web site designed to help minority students reach educational and career goals at Minneapolis North High School.

"It's good to end the summer on a note like this," he said. "I can come chill with the kids and get their feedback on the program."

Garnett declined to comment on his contract status, and kept basketball talk to a minimum. The Wolves have an extension offer on the table, and his agent, Andy Miller, is expected to meet with McHale this week.

Garnett is entering the final year of his six-year, $126 million contract. If there is no agreement before the season starts Oct. 29, talks will end until after the season, when Garnett will become a free agent.

Garnett is eligible for 105 percent of the last year of his contract, meaning he could go from making $28 million to $29.4 million next season. After that, Garnett, who could receive up to a five-year extension, would receive a 12.5 percent raise every year. It is believed the Wolves are offering a five-year extension for nearly $100 million.

If Garnett decides to test the free-agent market, no other team can pay him as much money as the Wolves because of the salary cap. The Wolves are not restricted by the salary cap.

In eight seasons with Wolves, Garnett has led them to seven playoff appearances and been all-star six times. Last season he was the most valuable player of the All-Star Game. Yet, Garnett has not led Minnesota past the first round of the playoffs. The Wolves had home-court advantage for the first time in team history last season, but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

Certain friends say that, from certain angles, New Jersey Nets president Rod Thorn looks as if he's aged three years in one.

Staffers from the Orlando Magic still speak bitterly about a smart-aleck newspaper poll taken seven years ago, as if that alone was responsible for driving away their super-sized superstar.

The traumas and institutional scars suffered by NBA teams that sweated out a franchise player's impending free agency soon could be the Timberwolves to bear if Kevin Garnett chooses not to sign a contract extension before next summer.

The Wolves already have made an offer to the All-Star forward through agent Andy Miller and, at one point this summer, the two parties were believed to be within $8 million; the team was said to be offering $92 million over five years, with Garnett's side seeking $100 million.

The gap seemed even smaller, too, when Wolves owner Glen Taylor, in an interview last week, said good-naturedly: "It won't be a matter of money. I'm probably going to overpay him anyway. He's my guy, and I'm going to take care of him."

Then again, the delay in finalizing veteran forward Gary Trent's one-year contract might relate to Miller's ability to deliver Garnett; Trent also is a Miller client.

Garnett and Miller will be in town Monday for a charity function at Minneapolis North High School, and the agent said he expected to talk with Kevin McHale, Wolves vice president of basketball operations.

"I'm not answering any questions about it," McHale said last week. "We don't have a deal."

The season hasn't even started and Prediction No. 1 of 2003-04 is already in some jeopardy. Kevin Garnett is indeed considering a contract extension from the Minnesota Timberwolves, after I fearlessly predicted on Aug. 4 that he wouldn't sign before the season. It was a prediction based on the belief that Garnett at least wants to see what it's like to visit other teams next summer and hear how they operate.

What changed?

A recent visit by Wolves management to Los Angeles, where Garnett now spends his offseasons, apparently has convinced KG to rethink that plan. Until August, the expectation even in some Wolves circles had Garnett intent on exercising his right to test the market next July. That's even though Minnesota can pay him far more than any other team, and even though the teams Garnett would figure to have serious interest in, like Houston, won't have anywhere near the cap room to make him a representative offer.

One team insider, after the fearless prediction, went so far as to say: "I don't think KG has ever seen another home locker room. He just wants to check things out." Wolves owner Glen Taylor and general manager Kevin McHale must have sensed that because they soon were in L.A. to discuss the parameters of an extension package. Taylor told ESPN.com on Friday that he made a detailed presentation to Garnett's financial adviser and has maintained phone contact with Garnett this offseason to discuss the club's many roster moves.

What's unclear is how Garnett will respond. Besides the riches it can offer, Minnesota also has presented Garnett with a slew of new teammates: Latrell Sprewell, Sam Cassell and Michael Olowokandi, most notably. That combination could convince Garnett to sign a five-year extension before Halloween, which naturally is the Wolves' preference. Then again, even if Garnett gets the feeling during Minnesota's first few practices that the 0-for-7 playoff hex is about to be exorcised, he might still elect to hold off until the offseason so he can visit the Rockets or the Pistons or perhaps another title contender.

Taylor said he's "optimistic" Garnett will sign the extension before the season because "it would just seem to me that there are more reasons to do it than not do it." When the subject was broached earlier in the summer, Taylor added, Garnett's reaction was, "Let's see the team you put together first, and I just said to him, 'That's fair enough.'

"(Signing Garnett) is the only thing that's left to do," Taylor said. "We've done everything else we could possibly do.

The Timberwolves agreed to terms Friday with free-agent center Jason Collier, forward Brandon Kurtz, guard Keith McLeod and former University of Minnesota forward Quincy Lewis.

Lewis is the most notable of the four signings. The former Gopher averaged 9.2 points while playing with the Wolves' summer league team in Orlando. He spent last season in Israel after playing three seasons with the Utah Jazz. Lewis averaged 3.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in 145 career games with the Jazz.

Collier was the 15th pick overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2000 draft. He was later traded to Houston for former Gopher Joel Przybilla. Collier averaged 3.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 11.3 minutes in three NBA seasons.

Kurtz, who played at the University of Tulsa, averaged 10.5 points and 6.1 rebounds playing in the NBA's developmental league last year.

McLeod averaged 17.1 points playing in Italy last season.

The Wolves open training camp Oct. 3 at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn.

Most of what qualify as roots in life -- home ownership, job seniority, friends and neighbors, a spouse, a child, a couple of dogs, community involvement, a longterm financial commitment from his bosses -- sneak up on a fella little by little, until one day he looks up and realizes, whoa, this really is home after all.

That's where Timberwolves swingman Wally Szczerbiak finds himself these days, more a part of things in Minnesota than ever before.

Then there is the basketball part, where Szczerbiak's place still is very much to be determined.

On the brink of his fifth NBA season, Szczerbiak already has played more games with the Wolves than Christian Laettner, logged more minutes than Tony Campbell and scored more points than Tom Gugliotta. He, his wife, Shannon, and their infant daughter, Annabella, are back in their downtown Minneapolis condo, with Szczerbiak's six-year, $63 million contract extension about to trigger for 2003-04.

This weekend, as a sign of the bond he's developing with the Twin Cities, Szczerbiak will host a two-day youth basketball camp at the Lindbergh Center in Hopkins. The event on Saturday and Sunday, limited to 300 players, will offer 100 scholarships to underprivileged applicants. A charity golf event and dinner today at Rush Creek Golf Club in Maple Grove precede the camp, with proceeds split between the Animal Humane Society and the Timberwolves Community Foundation.

"It's just a thing where kids can come out, meet me, and we'll work on some drills," Szczerbiak said Thursday morning, after playing in an informal scrimmage at Target Center with a few Wolves players (Troy Hudson, Mark Madsen, Fred Hoiberg) and a few Wolves hopefuls.

"It's a way to give back, now that I'm going to be here longterm," he said. "Now that I've signed a big contract, I wanted to do some things to benefit good causes."

Minnesota Timberwolves owner Taylor said the re-signing of free-agent forward Gary Trent will become official once the paperwork is cleared through the league office.

The Timberwolves have offered all-star forward Kevin Garnett a contract extension, team owner Glen Taylor said Thursday. Now the question is, will Garnett take it?

"He hasn't been in town, so we don't know if he's going to sign it or not," Taylor said. "He knows our position."

Garnett, on vacation, is expected back in the Twin Cities within a few days. His agent, Andy Miller, didn't return phone calls Thursday but earlier this week declined comment when asked about the contract extension. Garnett and Wolves general manager Kevin McHale could not be reached for comment.

Because he signed his six-year, $126 million contract before the last collective bargaining agreement in 1998, Garnett is eligible for 105 percent of the last year of his contract. He is scheduled to make $28 million this season, the last year of his six-year deal. After that, Garnett, who could receive up to a five-year extension, would receive a 12.5 percent raise each year.

A person familiar with the negotiations said the Wolves are not offering Garnett the maximum salary.

Garnett would become a free agent next summer if the sides don't reach an agreement. Because any other team that tries to sign him must stay within its salary cap, Garnett can likely make more money with the Wolves, who are not bound by that stipulation.

The Wolves and Garnett have been discussing an extension for the past two years. If no deal is reached before the season starts Oct. 29 against Milwaukee, Taylor would like to halt negotiations until after the season.

Free-agent forward Gary Trent has agreed to terms with the Timberwolves, his agent, Andy Miller, said Tuesday.

"The deal is done," Miller said.

A Wolves official said the deal wasn't done Tuesday but should be completed any day.

Trent, 6 feet 8, 250 pounds, averaged six points and 3.6 rebounds for the Wolves last season. He'll compete for playing time at power forward with new acquisition Mark Madsen.

With the return of Trent, the Wolves' roster appears to set. The team likely will bring several more players to training camp when it opens Oct. 3 at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn.

Kings forward Lawrence Funderburke, who is in the final year of a five-year contract, will miss much of this season after undergoing surgery Monday on his left Achilles tendon. The surgery to relieve Funderburke's chronic tendinitis revealed a partial tear in the tendon.

Funderburke is expected to be in a series of casts through mid-January, when he would begin six weeks of physical therapy.

Funderburke, who turns 33 on Dec. 15, is expected to miss at least six months -- which puts his status for the upcoming season in jeopardy.

According to league and team sources, Funderburke -- and his $3.65 million contract -- had been shopped around the NBA this summer as the Kings sought to reduce salary, and some kind of deal remains an option.

The Minnesota Timberwolves this summer traded injured guard Terrell Brandon's contract to Atlanta in a salary move.

The rarely-used Funderburke has been hampered by pain in both feet the past few seasons. He played in a career-low 27 games last season and missed 16 with Achilles tendinitis in his left foot and a sore right foot.

FIRST it was Scott Burrell. Now it could be Isaiah Rider.

After Burrell showed everyone what a legitimate US National Basketball Association star and championship ring owner can do, Rider is said to be interested in playing in the Philippine Basketball Association.

?He is available and he wants to play. I can bring him over,? said US-based player agent Sam Unera, who is responsible for bringing in Burrell to the Red Bull Barako fold. ?Even if the salary?s low, it?s okay with him. All he wants is a second chance.?

Burrell played alongside Michael Jordan on the last Chicago Bulls squad that won an NBA championship. Despite jetlag, Burrell put up quite a show and contributed 19 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, six steals and a blocked shot in 38 minutes, as the Thunder snapped Sta. Lucia Realty?s winning streak, 89-74, on Sunday.

Rider is said to be amenable to receiving the maximum $14,000 monthly pay offered by the PBA, if only to get another chance at proving he has shed his bad-boy image.