The Minnesota Timberwolves don’t need to get cute with their starting five.
Four spots already feel spoken for next season: LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert. That leaves one opening, and the obvious temptation is to go shopping for a traditional power forward or chase an outside name like Jonathan Kuminga, though that would likely get too expensive.
But the cleaner answer might already be on the roster. Rather than forcing Trey Lyles into a starting role he may not be built for, the Wolves should shift McDaniels to power forward and plug Ayo Dosunmu onto the wing.
Dosunmu may look more like a combo guard at first glance, but his value goes well beyond a simple label. At 6'4 and 200 pounds, he’s not a textbook small forward, yet Minnesota’s other pieces make that less of an issue.
Ball is a 6'8 point guard. Edwards is built like a football player.
The size concerns shrink fast when those two are already setting the tone.
The fit gets even better when the shot profile enters the picture. Dosunmu hit 46.7 percent of his right corner 3-pointers, and with Ball creating for others, defenses would have to stay attached to him. That kind of gravity opens more room for McDaniels and Gobert to work.
He also brings something Minnesota can use: he’s comfortable with or without the ball. That kind of flexibility would give the starting group more options on both ends, and it’s the sort of versatility the Timberwolves have been missing over the last two seasons.
McDaniels at the four makes just as much sense. He’s already one of the league’s top perimeter defenders, but his best defensive work may come as a weak-side rim protector. That’s the kind of role that fits in the mold of Giannis Antetokounmpo, peak Jonathan Isaac, and other long, disruptive wings.
In that setup, McDaniels next to Gobert would give Minnesota a look similar in concept to what Oklahoma City does with Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. Hartenstein handles the rim protection in the way Gobert would, while Chet provides the blindside help McDaniels would offer.
The move also helps the offense. With McDaniels sliding inside and Dosunmu taking the wing spot, the Timberwolves could lean into a true four-out look around Gobert. They weren’t able to do that last season, and the result was a starting offense that often looked clunky.
Maybe Dosunmu starts, maybe he doesn’t. Either way, his role is going to matter. The bigger point is simpler than all the lineup debates around it: Minnesota should start its best five players, especially when they fit together this naturally.
In Other News...
Rudy Gobert Gave Timberwolves Fans A Reason To Feel Good Again
Rudy Gobert offered Timberwolves fans a fresh look at the groups offseason work this week, sharing a social media video from Minnesotas team-building trip to France. The getaway, organized and funded by Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball, mixed workouts with other activities as the Wolves tried to strengthen their bond away from the normal NBA grind.
For a team coming off a playoff appearance, the trip was a reminder that chemistry matters as much as talent. Minnesota has plenty of reasons to believe in its core, but the bigger question now is whether that tighter feel translates once the season starts and the games begin to count again. [Read more 🡒]
Anthony Edwards Just Lost Minnesotas Last Real Excuse
The Timberwolves spent the offseason making the kind of swing that leaves no ambiguity about the direction of the franchise. Karl-Anthony Towns is gone, LaMelo Ball is in, and the whole idea was to give Anthony Edwards a better-shaded path to the kind of supporting cast Minnesota has too often failed to build around him. Chris Finch has already acknowledged past mistakes in how Edwards was used, which only adds to the sense that this is a reset as much as it is a roster change.
What makes the next stretch so interesting is how little margin for error remains. Minnesota does not have a deep stash of draft assets to keep patching holes if this version of the team stalls, and the pressure around Edwards is only going to rise if the offense does not look right. For a player the franchise clearly wants to center its future on, the question is no longer whether the Wolves believe in him. It is whether they can finally give him enough to make that belief matter. [Read more 🡒]
Ben Simmons Gives The Wolves A Fit Question Fans Cant Ignore
Ben Simmons is still a free agent, but his next basketball step is starting to come into focus as he prepares to fully take part in an Australian national team mini-camp beginning Monday after sitting out last season to recover from injuries. For a Timberwolves team that has been looking for more answers at power forward, his name naturally enters the conversation because the attraction has always been the same: defense, playmaking and enough versatility to cover multiple lineup needs.
Minnesotas issue, though, is less about what Simmons can do in a vacuum and more about how he would fit into what already exists. The Wolves already have size concerns and spacing questions to sort through, and any serious look at Simmons has to account for where he would play if Jaden McDaniels or Joan Beringer run into foul trouble, or how awkward the alignment can get when Rudy Gobert is on the floor at the same time. That is the kind of roster puzzle that makes this possibility feel intriguing and tricky all at once. [Read more 🡒]