The Minnesota Timberwolves are a month away from embarking on the most hyped season in franchise history. They return almost every important player that led them to back-to-back Western Conference Finals. Anthony Edwards is a genuine superstar heading into Year 6. Naz Reid is king. And outside of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are a legitimate dynasty concern, the NBA is wide open.
If the Timberwolves want to go from playoff hopeful to a championship contender, they will need a fully formed Jaden McDaniels.
McDaniels has been a huge piece in Minnesota’s resurgence over the last four seasons. In his five years in the NBA, McDaniels has developed into one of the premier defenders in the league, utilizing his length and speed to intimidate his opponents. Anthony Edwards loves him and uses Jaden McDaniels’ name with the highest reverence. Many around the league (and mostly within Wolves Twitter) have called McDaniels the Scottie Pippen to Ant’s Michael Jordan and see his potential to become one of the greatest defenders of all time.
But in five seasons, there’s always something that’s just barely holding him back from a full-on breakout season.
During his rookie season, McDaniels flashed immediate promise as a two-way menace and a 6’9” three-and-D assassin. He shot 36.4 percent from three and looked way better than anyone expected after being drafted 28th overall in 2020.
McDaniels ratcheted up the defensive intensity in Year 2 and flirted with an All-Defensive nod. However, with the leap in defense, McDaniels also saw his three-point shooting plummet to 31.7 percent, and another issue emerged from the abyss. Jaden McDaniels could not stop fouling people. Despite playing only 25.8 minutes per game, he finished ninth in the NBA in total fouls committed.
In Year 3, McDaniels increased his scoring to 12.1 points per game, narrowly missing being named to an All-Defensive team, and hit a career high of 39.8 percent of his threes.
But he committed the second-most fouls in the league, many of which were backbreaking fouls that came at either the worst time or caused him to hit the bench during crucial moments of the game. It was also the year that McDaniels punched a cement wall, broke his hand, and missed Minnesota’s first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, which the Timberwolves lost to the eventual champs in five games. It was the height of McDaniels’ frustration as the tools were obviously there, but he had yet to figure out how to use them all at the same time.
Year 4 saw another offensive dip as McDaniels’ scoring dropped to 10.5 points per game and his three-point shooting fell by 6.1 percent. It was also the year McDaniels finally cracked second team All-Defense and played an integral role in leading the Wolves past the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets to reach the first Western Conference Finals in 20 years.
Last season, McDaniels expanded his offensive role even though his three-point shooting took another dip. McDaniels averaged a career-high 12.2 points per game and found the ball in his hands as a ball handler and secondary creator more than in his first four seasons. He turned things up a notch during Minnesota’s playoff run, averaging 14.7 points per game, 5.6 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and shot 38.2 percent from deep. He showcased his full arsenal in the first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, averaging 17.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, which helped the Wolves advance in five games.
McDaniels has four years left on his five-year, $131 million deal. While he has mostly lived up to the contract, McDaniels has a chance to cement himself as a star in the NBA alongside Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, and Naz Reid if he can find consistency in his game on both sides of the ball.
With Rudy Gobert taking up the one allotted spot for “great defender, can’t score” in the starting lineup, McDaniels needs to continue to build on his promising playoff run and become a secondary scoring option. It was tough last year for McDaniels to pick his spots in an offense that includes Edwards, Randle, and Reid, but McDaniels has to matter on both sides for the Wolves to take the leap.
McDaniels turns 25 at the end of September. He may never fully hit the Scottie Pippen comp, but McDaniels still has plenty of time to grow into his complementary role alongside Ant. There’s no reason why McDaniels can’t average his stat line from last year’s Lakers series for a whole season and use that as a baseline for the rest of his career. An all-defensive caliber small forward averaging 17 points, six rebounds, a block, and a steal, and shooting 38 percent from three, is exactly what the Wolves need to rise and become championship contenders.