If you scroll through a simulated Timberwolves roster in NBA 2K and land on power forward, the reaction is easy to understand. The group listed there is thin: Trey Lyles at 74 overall, Enrique Freeman at 69 overall, and Trey Kaufman Renn without a rating. Lyles, in fact, sits as the 10th-highest rated player on Minnesota’s 17-man roster in the game.
But that weakness might not be a weakness at all.
Recent NBA history suggests the Wolves may not need to chase a classic power forward to build a contender. Over the last five seasons, only one champion has won with what would truly qualify as a real power forward.
The clearest recent example came with the Knicks this past year. OG Anunoby, listed at 6-foot-7, started at power forward after spending the first seven years of his career as a listed small forward.
New York’s setup revolved around one big man, Karl Anthony Towns, and a collection of guards and wings who could move around the perimeter. Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart were used as wings without much of a defined position, and among the 10 main players the Knicks leaned on in the playoffs, only Towns and Mitchell Robinson were taller than 6-foot-11.
There was no power forward in the traditional sense.
Oklahoma City followed a similar path when it won the ring. Its listed power forwards, Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams, both played fewer than nine minutes per game in the playoffs. Of the other nine players who saw more minutes, none were power forwards.
That alone is a small sample, though, so the Celtics are worth a look too. In 2023-24, Boston listed Jason Tatum as its power forward, even though he had been listed as a small forward in five of the previous six seasons.
Jaylen Brown, the team’s small forward, had spent four of his previous six seasons as a shooting guard. The Celtics had Al Horford and Kristaps Porziņģis at center, but they shared the floor for only 5.3 minutes per game.
Most of the time, it was the 6-foot-8 Tatum handling the four.
The one clear exception in this recent stretch was Denver in 2022-23, when Aaron Gordon filled the power forward spot next to Nikola Jokic.
Golden State’s 2021-22 title team also fits the broader pattern of modern positional flexibility. Its listed power forwards were Draymond Green and Otto Porter Jr. Green is a positionless player by nature, and Porter Jr. had long been a small forward.
That’s the direction the league has been moving. Teams are leaning into length, mobility and switchability.
San Antonio, Oklahoma City and New York all showed that clearly last season. They planted a center near the rim and surrounded him with guards and wings who could handle different jobs on the perimeter.
That matters because so much of modern offense is built on pick-and-roll actions designed to create mismatches. If Luka Dončić brings a defender into the action and the defense can simply switch, the first plan can disappear fast.
The Wolves’ appeal is that they can make that kind of switching work without a traditional four. If Dončić calls for a screen and ends up going from Anthony Edwards to Jaden McDaniels, or from LaMelo Ball to Ayo Dosunmu, or from Bones Hyland to Terrence Shannon Jr., the defense still has length and speed in the way. The mismatch hunt doesn’t go away, but the lane to attack becomes less obvious.
There is still some risk if teams try to drag Rudy Gobert away from the basket. Even so, the Wolves’ size and quickness give them the chance to pre-switch. In that Dončić example, if he were to call up Walker Kessler, McDaniels could pre-switch onto Kessler as he prepares to set the screen, keeping Gobert as the low man while the guards and wings keep rotating.
So maybe Minnesota’s apparent lack of a power forward isn’t really a roster flaw. With McDaniels, Dosunmu, Ball, Edwards, Shannon Jr, Hyland, Beringer, Josh Green and a returning Donte DiVincenzo at some point, the Wolves already have a deep group of defenders who fit the way the league is going.
Minnesota may simply be following the NBA’s recent blueprint: less about having a true power forward, more about stacking wings and using length to make the whole thing work.
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