For maybe the first time in franchise history, the main offseason criticism of the Minnesota Timberwolves is on the court.
For decades, the Wolves’ troubles lay in inept ownership, player drama, and a front office that couldn’t manage a Waffle House. But this year, everything seemed to be in place. Naz Reid and Julius Randle signed adequate deals that didn’t get blasted the moment they were announced. Nickeil Alexander-Walker was an acceptable loss. And nobody did anything stupid for once.
The only real issue was that the Timberwolves didn’t have a point guard.
The incumbent, Mike Conley, put his little 37-year-old body on the line to help lead the Timberwolves to back-to-back Western Conference Finals and calm things down with his veteran presence on the court. But Conley turned 38 before the start of the season and could be washed.
Minnesota inserted Donte DiVincenzo into the starting lineup in a pseudo-surprise on opening night. The combo guard took more than half of the season last year to get comfortable. Still, when he came back from a toe injury, DiVincenzo hit another level down the stretch and in the playoffs, but he’s more of a shooting guard and has a habit of driving and kicking to the wrong team.
Rob Dillingham only played 516 minutes in a mostly lost rookie season last year. The bright spots were few and far between. He never found a consistent role on a contending team. And the size, defense, and shooting were all concerns that carried over from the offseason into opening day. Chris Finch seemed to have little confidence that Rob was ready to take on a larger role in place of Mike Conley. And so the point guard position looked razor-thin to start the 2025-26 season.
The first few games of the season put every Wovles fan on high alert. Conley indeed looked washed. DiVincenzo was a shooting guard forced to run the offense against his will. And Rob Dillingham didn’t play any meaningful minutes until Anthony Edwards missed four games with a hamstring injury.
But I’m here to tell you, as the Timberwolves sit at 10-5, 15 games into the season, Minnesota’s point guard problems are a thing of the past. Although things may not be perfect, the Wolves’ perceived biggest weakness heading into the season has been mitigated by a few factors.
First, Conley may not be able to impact the game for 30 minutes a game like he could in his prime, but he is not totally washed yet. He’s averaging career lows in minutes (20.6), points (6.4), and assists (3.7), but he’s also shooting a career best 45.5 percent from three on 2.9 attempts per game. It’s a clearly diminished role and slightly diminishing returns, but Conley is still a solid backup-level point guard and can still impact a winning team.
DiVincenzo is finding his groove as a starting point guard. After a super rocky start in which DiVincenzo committed six turnovers and could barely dribble the ball past half court against the Portland Trail Blazers’ hounding pressure defense, DiVincenzo has been a steady lead ballhandler.
Chris Paul, he is not. Still, DiVincenzo — or as he’s better known, the Michael Jordan of Delaware, according to Basketball Reference — is averaging a career high 3.6 assists to go along with 13.9 points per game on 39.5 percent from three. He’s one of the few Wolves players to bring defensive intensity this early in the season and has found his comfort zone somewhere between primary ballhandler and floor general.
Dillingham is off to another weird start to his second season in the NBA. He didn’t even play in two of the first three games of the season and only found some footing in the rotation thanks to Edwards’ hamstring strain. When Dillingham plays, he’s still erratic. Surprisingly, it’s the offense that craters when he’s on the court. He’s only surpassed 20 minutes once this year and scored in double figures in one game.
But the main reason the point guard issues have subsided is that everyone else on the roster has stepped up their playmaking to compensate for the lack of an elite traditional point guard.
Randle is averaging a career high 6.1 assists and turning the ball over the least since 2015-17. He’s playing the best basketball of his career and efficiently running Minnesota’s offense. Jaden McDaniels is an asset with the ball in his hands after five long seasons being stuck in the corner with defenders sagging off of him. Edwards is still doing the work as a secondary ballhandler and working his way back from injury. Even Rudy Gobert is getting in on the action and moving the ball.
The Wolves are averaging 26.5 assists per game, which is 15th in the NBA. They’re 12th in assist-to-turnover ratio, and the offense is flowing in the way that Chris Finch envisioned when he took the reins in 2021. Things aren’t perfect, but the Timberwolves are in a solid place without a true point guard to lead the way.