The Minnesota Timberwolves have spent the past year tearing things down and rebuilding the picture in real time. After the blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals, followed by the Oklahoma City Thunder’s dismantling of them in the Western Conference Finals a year earlier, it became obvious that standing still wasn’t an option.
So the Wolves didn’t stand still.
Early in the offseason, Minnesota moved both of its power forwards in a deal for LaMelo Ball, a seismic shift away from the double-big setup that had helped the team win after the Rudy Gobert trade in the 2022 offseason. The change also pushes Anthony Edwards back to his more natural shooting guard spot, while Ball is set to handle the primary on-ball duties as the starting point guard.
That’s a sharp turn from last September, when the Wolves were selling continuity as the answer to everything. That plan didn’t age well. Instead of building on what was there, the season went stale and slipped backward.
A big part of that old structure is gone now anyway. Mike Conley, Joe Ingles and eventually Kyle Anderson all left in free agency this summer, removing a layer of veteran stability from the roster.
“But we purposefully haven’t added a bunch of veterans to the team this year,” Finch said to MinnPost's Britt Robson for their annual preseason interview. "My approach with Ant or with Jaden or with all these guys is, if we’re going to take the diapers off, let’s take the diapers off."
That’s the clearest sign yet that Chris Finch sees this season differently. The message is simple: the younger core has to take over the room now, not later.
For Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and the rest of that group, there won’t be as much veteran cover this time around. Conley, Ingles and Anderson mattered on the floor and in the locker room, and Minnesota may feel their absence in some rough patches. But the Wolves are past the point of letting the vets carry the emotional load.
Edwards, especially, is entering a different phase. As the franchise player and superstar, he’s going to have to take on more leadership responsibility.
Earlier in his career, he could lean on the older voices around him to help steady things. That support system is thinner now, and he’ll be expected to help keep everyone aligned.
Finch didn’t sugarcoat the risks that come with that. A roster this altered can bring some uneasy stretches, especially if the new pieces don’t click right away.
"Yeah, there might be more volatility on our team," Finch told Robson. "We don’t know how the new players are going to integrate and measure up against expectations.
Which is the biggest thing. And somehow it feels like everything keeps getting harder and harder in the West - in the league in general."
That’s the reality Minnesota is walking into. For the first time during this three-year run of winning playoff series, the Wolves will open a season with multiple changes to the starting lineup.
And in a Western Conference where at least five other teams are chasing a deep playoff run, there’s no room to drift. Minnesota can’t afford to spend most of the regular season figuring itself out. It has to discover its identity quickly, sort out which lineups work, and adjust on the fly.
The training wheels are off. The safety net is gone. Now the Timberwolves have to find out whether this younger version of the team - with Edwards in his age-25 season - can match the talent and expectations that come with it.
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Jonathan Kuminga Is Now Pushing Back On A Warriors Contract Claim
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That directly complicates the earlier picture painted by his agent, Aaron Turner, who had said Kuminga declined higher-value offers and pointed to interest from the Warriors and Lakers. For a player whose next move is already a prominent talking point, the disagreement between the public reporting and the representation around him leaves the real shape of those conversations very much in question. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Latest Roster Twist Sent A Familiar Name Somewhere Unexpected
John Konchars stay in Minnesota never had much time to settle in. He came over from the Utah Jazz in the kind of roster shuffle that can happen in a hurry, then was released as the Timberwolves made room to sign Jonathan Kuminga. From there, the veteran guard entered free agency with a familiar track record that had several teams looking closely, including Miami, New York, Orlando and Toronto.
Konchars next stop is now set to be New York, where he has agreed to terms for the upcoming season. The Knicks emerged as the landing spot after the market kept moving, with the Heat still weighing whether to make an offer after two recent conversations, leaving Minnesotas brief connection to Konchar as just another short-lived twist in an active roster cycle. [Read more 🡒]