The Minnesota Timberwolves have spent the last two regular seasons being very good without quite looking finished. They’ve posted back-to-back 49-33 records and landed sixth in the Western Conference both times, a solid run that still left the feeling that there was more there.
That’s the crux of the coming season: Minnesota has the talent to climb higher, but it can’t keep giving away time in October and November. The Wolves opened 2025-26 at 10-8, then hit a rough patch in late January with five straight losses, including games against the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz, two non-playoff teams. The year before, they were only 22-21 through 43 games before catching fire down the stretch and going 27-12 over their final 39.
The hope now is that a slower launch won’t be part of the script again. Twelve of Minnesota’s first 18 games are at Target Center, and that kind of home-heavy stretch should give them a real chance to bank wins early. If they take care of business in their own building, they ought to be more than a couple of games above .500 by then.
There’s also a bigger-picture reason the Wolves need a cleaner start. Five playoff series wins over the last three years sounds impressive, and it is, but it still hasn’t been enough to get them to their first NBA Finals. They’ve beaten a higher seed in each of the last three seasons, but the path gets steeper from here: only one team seeded sixth or lower has ever won a championship, the 1995 Houston Rockets.
Minnesota can absolutely win as a lower seed. What it hasn’t shown is proof that it can make the Finals from that spot. That’s why finishing better than sixth matters, and why the regular season can’t turn into another long, uneven climb.
Personnel will matter too. Anthony Edwards has been durable for most of his career, and the hope is that last season was just a one-off after he missed more games than he had in his first five seasons combined.
LaMelo Ball also has a fairly long injury history, though he’s coming off his healthiest season in years. Both players are likely to miss time, but Minnesota can’t have them sidelined together.
Then there’s Joan Beringer, who has to prove he’s ready for a larger role. The upside is obvious: he has the potential to be a great rim protector. If he isn’t ready, the Wolves don’t have another big man on the roster, outside of Gobert and Beringer, who can force opponents to think twice about attacking the basket.
Landing in the top two won’t be simple in a conference with the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs. Even so, another 49-win season could be enough to move Minnesota up the standings, especially with anti-tanking measures in place and fewer easy wins floating around the league.
The Wolves have shown they can survive as a lower seed. What they need now is a regular season that doesn’t leave them scrambling to recover. A strong start would be the cleanest way to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
In Other News...
Rudy Gobert Just Became A Bigger Timberwolves Question Than Expected
Rudy Gobert is back around the Timberwolves after arriving from France and joining team workouts, which at least gives Minnesota a chance to get its defense anchored by the player who has been central to that identity. He remains eligible for a contract extension, and after signing a three-year extension in 2024, he has one year left on his current deal with a player option for the following season.
What makes this more delicate is the timing for a team still trying to protect its future flexibility while it develops a young core. Gobert is still a key piece, but there is no immediate push toward getting something done, leaving Minnesota to balance the value of keeping its veteran defensive force in place against the kind of cap planning that can shape the next several seasons. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Face A Fascinating New Challenge With LaMelo Ball And Kuminga
Minnesotas offseason has already given Chris Finch a different kind of puzzle, and it starts with the way LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga can fit into the offense. Finch said in an interview that integrating new pieces should be less complicated than it has been in past seasons, thanks in part to Balls ability to organize the floor and the teams move toward a cleaner offensive structure. For a group trying to reset its identity, that kind of simplicity can matter as much as star power.
The other layer is internal growth, where Finch wants more steadiness from the younger and bench-heavy parts of the roster as camp approaches. Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert were among the players he singled out for being part of that consistency push, which gives Minnesota a familiar sort of late-summer question: can the Wolves not only add talent, but also turn the whole rotation into something more reliable from night to night? [Read more 🡒]
Rudy Gobert Could Force The Wolves Into A Brutal Decision
The Timberwolves spent the offseason reshaping the roster around Rudy Gobert, making moves aimed at better fitting his game and their bigger-picture timeline. LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga arrived, while Julius Randle and Naz Reid were dealt away, all part of an effort to build a cleaner mix around the veteran center and keep Minnesota positioned to contend in the West.
Still, Goberts future does not feel fully settled. He has a player option on the final year of his contract, and what happens this season could leave the Wolves staring at a tough choice between bringing him back on another deal, preserving cap flexibility and continuing to balance his place with the growth of the rest of the roster. [Read more 🡒]