Cody Williams is walking into Minnesota with a very different kind of pressure than the one that followed him in Utah.
The Timberwolves didn’t make the Josh Green trade for the wingspan, the draft pedigree, or even the possibility of a hidden gem. The biggest win for Minnesota was financial: the deal brought in $2 million less than the team sent out, giving the Wolves the room they needed below the second apron to sign Jonathan Kuminga.
John Konchar came back in the deal too, but Minnesota waived and stretched him to open even more flexibility. That left Williams, the former No. 10 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, as the swing piece with the most intrigue.
Williams hasn’t looked like a sure thing yet. As a rookie, he averaged 4.6 points and 2.3 rebounds while shooting 32.3% from the field, the worst mark of any player with at least 100 attempts.
More than half of his shots came from three, and he hit just 25.9% of them. Last season was better.
He cleaned up his shot profile, took about a quarter of his attempts from deep, got to the rim and midrange more often, and bumped his scoring to 8.8 points per game while shooting 46.8% from the field.
Even with that improvement, the numbers still aren’t flattering. Among the top 10 picks in the 2024 draft, only Williams and Timberwolves draftee Rob Dillingham posted negative win shares.
That’s part of why Minnesota’s bet here is about upside, not resume. Williams was a former top prospect out of Colorado, and the Wolves are clearly willing to gamble that the raw tools still matter.
At 6-foot-8, he brings athleticism, a long wingspan, and the kind of frame that could make him a solid scorer inside the arc. His defense hasn’t popped yet, but there’s still room for that side of his game to grow with time.
There’s also a recent Timberwolves example that makes this kind of swing feel familiar. Nickeil Alexander-Walker arrived in Minnesota after inefficient stretches with the Pelicans and Jazz, then took off once he got into a winning environment. He became a key piece on back-to-back Western Conference Finals teams and later won the Most Improved Player award with the Hawks this past season.
Williams now gets the chance to follow that same path, though the circumstances are going to change fast. In Utah, he spent two seasons with a team that was trying to lose games, which made it hard for any young player to show what he could really do.
In Minnesota, the environment flips completely. The Timberwolves are chasing a championship, and if Williams gets on the floor, he’ll be playing alongside far more talent than he has seen so far.
His role will shrink, and probably sharply. Williams played 117 games for the Jazz and started 62 of them, averaging 23 minutes a night.
None of that is likely to carry over in Minnesota, where the starting five is among the best in the league and the bench runs deep. But that reduced role may actually help.
The draft label is no longer the headline, and he can focus on developing without having to carry the burden of expectations.
Training camp is going to matter a lot. If Williams shows more than what the film has already revealed, the Timberwolves may have found another useful reclamation project, the way they did with Alexander-Walker. If he doesn’t, his time in Minnesota - and perhaps in the NBA - could be short.
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For Minnesota, the Braun chatter connects to a different kind of familiar name resurfacing in the league conversation. There is reported mutual interest in Kevin Love returning to the Timberwolves, a possibility that would naturally catch attention in Minneapolis given his place in the franchises history and the fact he played last season in Utah. It is still just the sort of rumor that hangs in the background until the sides decide whether there is something real there, but it is exactly the kind of thread Wolves fans will keep watching as the offseason picture keeps shifting. [Read more 🡒]
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For a Wolves team that knows Love well from his earlier years in Minnesota, the fit has an obvious emotional pull, even as other contenders remain in the mix. Philadelphia and Miami have also been mentioned as possible landing spots, which keeps the picture unsettled for now, but the fact that multiple teams see value in him suggests the final stop of his career could still tell a meaningful story. [Read more 🡒]
Jonathan Kuminga Arrives With One Big Question For Wolves Fans
Jonathan Kumingas arrival gives the Timberwolves a different kind of frontcourt look, with the expectation that he steps right into the starting power forward spot. The talent is obvious, but so is the concern that follows him into Minnesota: his outside shot has never been a strength, and his reputation has been shaped as much by inconsistency as by upside.
That makes the fit around him especially interesting, because Minnesota is betting the rest of the lineup can help smooth out the rough edges. LaMelo Ball is the kind of creator who can manufacture cleaner looks, and if that changes Kumingas comfort level from deep, it could go a long way toward making the partnership work. The question now is whether those open chances finally lead to better results, or whether the spacing issue remains part of the conversation all season. [Read more 🡒]