The Minnesota Timberwolves are heading toward the regular season with a roster that looks lopsided in one very specific way: there’s plenty of perimeter help, but not much safety net up front.
That becomes harder to ignore when you look at how Chris Finch’s rotation is shaping up. Less than a week before the season starts, the locked-in starters are becoming clearer, and the top bench names are Ayo Dosunmu, Terrence Shannon Jr., and Joan Beringer. After that, the options in the frontcourt get thin fast.
Trey Lyles looks set to be Finch’s most reliable answer for traditional big-man minutes. He gives Minnesota more size and rebounding than starter Jonathan Kuminga, but he does not bring the same defensive versatility or scoring. The cleanest fit is at power forward next to Beringer or Rudy Gobert, and the expectation is that he’ll log a lot of minutes with Beringer so the Wolves can survive the rookie’s issues on the defensive glass.
What Lyles is not is a perfect emergency center. He can slide to small-ball five in stretches, but his rebounding won’t translate the same way there, and he isn’t a true rim protector.
Outside of Lyles, the backup four options are all of the small-ball variety: Jaden McDaniels, Shannon, and Cody Williams, the 6-foot-8 newcomer with a 7-foot-1 wingspan who spent most of his time on the perimeter over his last two seasons in Utah.
That’s a different kind of depth chart than Finch has had in recent years. Minnesota used to have more established frontcourt answers available, with Julius Randle, Naz Reid, and Karl-Anthony Towns all giving the team more size and more certainty.
The bench used to be sturdier, too. When Gobert was sidelined by assorted nicks and bruises in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, the Wolves could lean on Luka Garza, who wasn’t flashy but could rebound, stretch the floor a bit, and pass.
Last season, he played in 69 games and was part of a 56-win Celtics rotation. Finch also had Kyle Anderson to call on in the second half of last season when Gobert missed time for suspension or rest, or when Beringer got into foul trouble.
Joe Ingles also gave Minnesota another option at the four.
This season, there’s no comparable fallback beyond Lyles and Beringer. Rocco Zikarsky just turned 20 and is on a two-way deal, but he hasn’t shown much growth yet in Las Vegas Summer League or the first preseason games, and he looks better suited for time with the Iowa Wolves in the G League.
The Wolves do still have one roster spot open, but the only camp player who might fit the mold of a fifth big is Drew Timme, and he hasn’t stood out in game action either. Right now, keeping that final spot open appears to be the more likely path, preserving flexibility as the season begins.
That leaves Minnesota with a real question waiting in the wings. Gobert is expected to miss around 10 games, and Beringer’s foul trouble is already a known issue. If one of the French big men is out - or, even worse, if both are unavailable - Finch will have to get creative.
Lyles can cover some of that. Lineups with Lyles and McDaniels can go five-out on offense, something Gobert or Beringer at center can’t really offer, even if those groups pay for it on the boards.
After that, the choices get extreme: ultra-small looks with McDaniels, Kuminga, or Shannon at center, or turning to the raw Zikarsky.
Hopefully it won’t come up often. But it’s a legitimate concern, and one of the more important roster questions Minnesota carries into the season.
In Other News...
Timberwolves Buzz Feels Different But One Challenge Just Got Bigger
Chris Finch says the Timberwolves locker room has taken on a very different feel heading into the preseason, moving from what he described as moodiness to something closer to giddiness. The arrival of LaMelo Ball has been a big part of that shift, with his playmaking and energy giving Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and the rest of the roster a boost in the kind of easy rhythm teams like to see before the games start counting.
The challenge now is making sure that new spark does not drift into something too loose for a group with bigger goals. Finchs point was clear: the chemistry looks better, the mood is lighter and the ball movement should be fun to watch, but the Timberwolves still have to carry the seriousness it takes to chase a championship when the preseason feeling gives way to the real grind. [Read more 🡒]
Reggie Miller Sees A Rockets Threat The West Can't Ignore
The Western Conference picture keeps shifting, and the Timberwolves are right in the middle of a summer that has already featured plenty of roster movement around them. Minnesotas addition of LaMelo Ball has only added to the sense that the conferences top tier is still being redrawn, with the Lakers bringing in Walker Kessler and Denver landing DeMar DeRozan as other contenders try to keep pace.
Reggie Miller, though, has been pointing to Houston as the team that could make the loudest leap. He sees a Rockets group built around a promising young core and strengthened by the arrivals of Fred VanVleet and Marcus Smart, enough to make them a real problem in a crowded West. The Rockets will get their first chance to show how far theyve come when they open the 2026-27 season against the Mavericks on October 21. [Read more 🡒]
Jonathan Kuminga Is Already Calming One Timberwolves Concern
Jonathan Kuminga has spent the Timberwolves preseason doing exactly what Minnesota hoped to see: fitting in. He has flashed on both ends without monopolizing the ball, and his best stretch so far came against the Pistons, when he led the team with 16 points while also adding 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Just as important, the scoring has come with good shot selection and the kind of floor spacing that can make a lineup easier to play around.
For a Wolves team that values cohesion and two-way versatility, Kumingas early usage is encouraging because it looks familiar in the right way. His role is expected to resemble Jaden McDaniels, with an emphasis on exploiting mismatches, defending, and helping the team function rather than chasing numbers. If that continues, one preseason concern about how he would fit should start to fade quickly. [Read more 🡒]