The Timberwolves can live with a few questions heading into next season. Rebounding can’t be one of them.
Minnesota was only slightly above average on the glass last season, finishing with a plus-28 rebound margin over 82 games. That came with Naz Reid and Julius Randle in the mix, two big bodies who helped keep the Wolves sturdy inside. This offseason, the team gave up some of that size to bring in star point guard LaMelo Ball, and the result is a roster that will need everyone to chip in when the ball comes off the rim.
At the center of it all is Rudy Gobert, which is exactly where Minnesota would want the conversation to start. Gobert has been one of the league’s elite rebounders for years, and the four-time Defensive Player of the Year has now averaged double figures in rebounds in 11 straight seasons. He pulled down 11.5 boards in 2025-26, the fifth-most in the league, and that number could climb now that Reid and Randle are gone.
The challenge is what comes after Gobert. On the current roster, he is the only player who averaged more than five rebounds per game in 2025-26. Anthony Edwards finished right at five, which tells you how much of the burden could fall on the rest of the group.
Ball should help some. At 6-foot-7, he brings size to the backcourt and has long shown he can contribute on the glass.
His 4.8 rebounds per game last season were a career low with the Charlotte Hornets, but that also came in fewer minutes as the team tried to manage his health. On a per-36-minute basis, he averaged 6.2 rebounds, right in line with his career average of 6.6.
Minnesota will also need Joan Beringer to hold up when Gobert sits. Beringer was productive on the boards during his 11 G League appearances last season, and he averaged 10.6 rebounds per 36 minutes in limited NBA minutes. If the Wolves are going to survive those non-Gobert stretches, that kind of production matters.
The frontcourt picture at power forward is still unsettled, but the early expectation is that whoever starts there will not be a major rebounder for the position. Trey Lyles was added this offseason after a year away from the NBA, and he has been a solid rebounder during his career. Even so, it remains to be seen how large a role he can actually handle after missing last season entirely.
That leaves the guards with work to do as well. The long rebounds won’t just be Gobert’s problem, and they won’t just be Beringer’s either. Minnesota’s backcourt has to help finish possessions, especially with less size around the roster than the team has carried in recent years.
The Wolves have plenty of strengths to lean on. The real question is whether rebounding can stay from turning into a weakness. For that to happen, Minnesota will need a true team effort.
In Other News...
Rudy Gobert May Be Facing More Than The Wolves Expected
Rudy Gobert arrived in Minnesota in 2022 with the expectation that his shot-blocking and rim protection would give the Timberwolves a stabilizing force at the back end of the defense. The fit looked different from what he had in Utah, mostly because the Wolves have tried to build around a more athletic, more talented group of defenders, with a roster that can cover ground and play faster than the teams Gobert was used to anchoring.
But the questions around his new role go beyond simple scheme changes. Minnesotas defensive setup could ask Gobert to carry more of the heavy lifting than expected, especially if the group around him does not consistently control the glass or ease the pressure on the paint. How much that burden grows will be one of the quieter issues to watch as the Wolves try to make their front line work around him. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Have A Christmas Day Debate Fans Will Love
The Timberwolves have become the kind of team the NBA can no longer leave out of the holiday conversation. After their recent rise, Minnesota now fits naturally into the Christmas Day mix, and the leagues matchup options are better than they have been in years. A list of possible opponents reads like a sampler of the Western Conferences most watchable storylines, from the Houston Rockets to the Los Angeles Lakers, with the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs also giving the schedule makers plenty to consider.
What makes the debate so appealing is the variety. Some pairings would lean on old playoff history, others on star power or the promise of a fresh conference rivalry, and all of them would give Minnesota a chance to showcase where it stands among the Wests best. The only real question is which version of the Wolves the league wants on display when the holiday lights go up, and which opponent would make the biggest stage feel the most justified. [Read more 🡒]
The Kevin Love Trade Debate Still Haunts Timberwolves Fans
The Kevin Love trade has lingered over Minnesota for more than a decade because it sits at the center of one of the franchises great what-ifs. Back in 2014, the Timberwolves sent Love to Cleveland in a three-team deal and got Anthony Bennett, Andrew Wiggins and a trade exception in return, a package that immediately tied the move to the bigger questions of how to build around a star, how to judge timing and how much one decision can reshape a rosters future.
What makes the debate so enduring is that Minnesotas deal was only part of the story. There was also the report that Golden State had considered sending Klay Thompson for Love before Jerry West, then an advisor to the Warriors, opposed it, a detail that adds another layer to a trade tree already packed with alternate timelines. For Timberwolves fans, it is the kind of hindsight exercise that never really ends, because the careers of Love, Thompson, Wiggins and others might have taken very different paths if just one front-office call had gone another way. [Read more 🡒]