In late January, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said there was "a lot of belief" in the team internally as it approached Thursday's trade deadline, despite an inconsistent season as one of the most expensive teams in the league.

The front office and President Tim Connelly were also restricted by the Wolves' status as a second-apron team, meaning they could not combine player salaries in any deals unless it took them under that threshold.

Add it all up, and the result was a quiet trade season for the Wolves, who didn't make any trades as the 2 p.m. deadline passed.

"There was never this great momentum within the organization to shake it up or do anything," Finch said. "Since basically Christmastime, middle of December, I think we feel like we can point to the team that we can still become, and we've seen glimpses of that."

The main question for the Wolves had been whether Julius Randle would be on the team at this point in the season.

Over the past month, Finch has praised the veteran forward's willingness to shape his game to become more of a facilitator for the Wolves. Randle helped the Wolves to the fifth-best offensive efficiency in the league in January, and the team was on a five-game win streak before he suffered an adductor strain last week in Utah. The injury will sideline him at least another two weeks.

The Wolves lost their first two games without Randle to Washington and Sacramento before beating the Bulls on Wednesday. They play Houston on Thursday.

Randle has a player option for next season worth around $31 million, and the Wolves will have more certainty around his status in the offseason. They also will know after the season whether a top-13 protected pick they acquired along with Randle and Donte DiVincenzo in the Karl-Anthony Towns trade with the Knicks will convey. Their flexibility to make deals this offseason will be greater than it was this week.

As for this trade cycle, Finch said he didn't sense a lot of anxiety around the Wolves locker room this week as the deadline neared.

"I think that's a tribute to Tim and the work that they did because their names weren't out there," Finch said. "We weren't really openly and actively shopping anybody. It didn't feel like there was movement to be made."

Naz Reid also has a player option for next season for just over $15 million while Nickeil Alexander-Walker will be an unrestricted free agent. The Wolves likely will try to duck under the second apron for next season and escape the restrictions it imposes on teams, including the freezing of draft picks to be traded in the future, dropping picks to the bottom of the first round and eliminating the use of the midlevel exception.