When the Timberwolves open Summer League play Thursday night in Las Vegas, the spotlight lands on Joan Beringer. Minnesota didn’t bring in a first-round pick this year, and while early second-rounder Isaiah Evans should draw some attention, Beringer is the player on this roster who matters most to the Wolves right now and down the road.
That’s a pretty good place to be for a 19-year-old who doesn’t turn 20 until November and didn’t start seriously playing basketball until he was 14. The Timberwolves knew they were taking on a project when they drafted him 17th overall last year, but his first season only strengthened the case for his long-term upside.
Beringer already made his Summer League entrance a year ago, and he did it in a big way: 11 points, 8 rebounds and 6 blocks in his debut. The athletic tools were obvious then. What followed was a rookie year spent mostly on the edges of the rotation, which wasn’t much of a surprise on a team with Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Naz Reid in the frontcourt.
He appeared in 40 regular-season games and averaged 7.9 minutes. He got more than 10 minutes just seven times, starts included, and even in that limited run there were signs of something real.
In January against the Bucks, he had 13 points and finished plus-30 in his first meaningful rotation chance. He also turned in big performances with Iowa in the G League, then capped the regular season with a monster line of 24 points, 13 rebounds and 7 blocks when the Wolves rested their starters.
The numbers don’t tell the whole story, but they do hint at the ceiling. Beringer’s rookie per-36-minute averages were 17.9 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3 blocks, even though much of that came in garbage time.
What stands out most is the blend of size, explosiveness and fluid movement. He’s a rim-running center, and in the G League he even showed he could put the ball on the floor and drive past defenders from the top of the key.
This season should open more doors. Randle and Reid are gone, which clears a path for Beringer to get real minutes when Gobert sits. Summer League is his chance to show exactly what he can be in that role.
He’ll be one of the featured names on a roster that also includes Evans, Zyon Pullin, Enrique Freeman, Rocco Zikarsky and Trey Kaufman-Renn. One detail worth watching: Beringer is listed at 245 pounds now, up from 230 as a rookie. At this level, that should make him a force around the rim on both ends.
The fit with Zikarsky is another interesting wrinkle. At 7-foot-3, last year’s second-round pick can stretch the floor with threes, which could allow Beringer to slide into a four-man look in those lineups.
"I feel better (than I did a year ago)," Beringer said this week. "I have a lot more confidence in my game."
For Minnesota, that confidence could be the start of something bigger. Beringer enters this summer as the face of the Wolves’ Summer League group, and Thursday night against the Pelicans gives him the first chance to turn that promise into a breakout second NBA season.
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Jaden McDaniels Buzz Suddenly Feels Bigger For The Timberwolves
Jaden McDaniels spent last season showing more of the offensive game Minnesota has long hoped would arrive, and it came at a time when the Timberwolves were still sorting out what his ceiling might look like. He put together a career-best year at the scoring end, with better efficiency across the board, and that has only added to the sense inside the organization that his next step could be a meaningful one.
The bigger question now is how that growth fits into a reshaped rotation. McDaniels had briefly looked like a possible second scoring option after Julius Randle was traded, but the addition of LaMelo Ball changes the picture again and gives Minnesota a different kind of lead guard to work with. James White and Tim Connelly have both sounded encouraged about where McDaniels is headed, and the Timberwolves seem to believe the real test is no longer whether he can handle more, but how much more they can ask of him. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Are Testing A Frontcourt Look Fans Havent Forgotten
The Timberwolves are giving a familiar-looking frontcourt experiment a summer showcase, planning to run Joan Beringer and Rocco Zikarsky together as a double-big look in summer league. Both are second-year players from the 2025 draft class, with Beringer going 17th overall and Zikarsky coming off the board at 45th, and the team wants a closer read on how their size can work in tandem rather than just in theory.
There is a reason this pairing has caught attention beyond July games. Zikarsky brings enough offensive range to at least open the door to a frontcourt fit that echoes the kind of spacing-and-size balance Minnesota has chased before, while Beringers comfort shifting to the four gives the Wolves another way to test the idea. Even so, this is still more of an evaluation than a preview of the regular season, where the club is unlikely to lean on the look heavily. [Read more 🡒]
One Quote Just Raised A Painful Question About The Wolves' Gamble
Micah Noris move from the Timberwolves to the Portland Trail Blazers already made him an interesting link between two franchises, but a recent comment from Jrue Holiday gave that connection a sharper edge. Holidays view of what Minnesota has been building only adds to the sense that the Wolves are operating with real expectations now, especially after making a major swing to install LaMelo Ball as their starting point guard.
The gamble is obvious from a roster-construction standpoint: Ball brings offense and a different kind of playmaking, but the fit next to Anthony Edwards has to work on both ends for Minnesotas ceiling to stay where it wants it. For a team that has leaned on its defensive identity, the concern is whether adding Ball helps push the Wolves forward or asks them to give up too much of what made them dangerous in the first place. [Read more 🡒]