Jaylen Clark is betting on a big year in Minnesota, and the Timberwolves seem to be betting on him, too.
The 2023 second-round pick from UCLA signed a three-year, $10 million deal this summer to stay with the team that drafted him 53rd overall, and he made it clear this week that he sees a real fit with the Wolves moving forward.
“That’s why I came back,” Clark told Dan Barreiro on KFAN this week. “If I didn’t, I would have went somewhere else. I like what Tim [Connelly] was telling me, what [Chris] Finch was talking about, so it’s going to be a great year.”
That optimism lines up with what Minnesota has built around him. The roster is crowded with guards - LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Terrence Shannon Jr., and Bones Hyland among them - which could leave Clark on the outside of the regular rotation if Chris Finch decides to keep things tight. In that kind of setup, Clark would be used mostly for the kind of point-of-attack defense that can change a possession fast.
But Clark also thinks this team has enough across the board to go deeper than that.
He said the Wolves have a strong top 10 and pointed to the possibility that Finch opens the season with a nine- or 10-man rotation. That matters more now than it might have in previous years, because Minnesota spent the summer reshaping the roster and added two new starters in the process.
Tim Connelly’s offseason came in waves. It started with two big questions hanging over the franchise: who would be the starting point guard going forward, and would Julius Randle still be on the roster to begin the 2026-27 season? Minnesota answered both by trading Randle and Naz Reid for LaMelo Ball.
Ball gives the Wolves an All-Star-level lead guard next to Edwards, but that move also opened a hole at power forward. Three months later, Connelly filled it by signing 23-year-old Jonathan Kuminga to a two-year, $12.4 million contract, bringing in the best available unrestricted free agent to address the spot.
The result is a depth chart that gives Finch more options than he’s usually had. And that, more than anything, is why this feels like the season to stretch the rotation.
Finch has long preferred shorter lineups and fewer combinations, believing they help with chemistry and connectivity. Sometimes that’s been a choice.
Other times, it’s been a necessity. Minnesota hasn’t always had enough reliable production on the bench to justify going deeper.
There have been stretches where Rob Dillingham’s struggles, Josh Minott’s lack of defense, or Joe Ingles’ underwhelming first season in Minnesota made it hard to trust the back end of the roster. That’s not the situation now.
“Our first ten is very strong,” Clark said on KFAN. “If you look at the teams that are winning, like OKC, San Antonio, they are not afraid to go nine or ten deep.
I know early in the year, Finch definitely does that. Towards the later half, he tightens up closer to eight.”
That approach makes sense for a team that has reached the Western Conference Finals twice in the last three years. The regular season is already a grind, and once the playoffs arrive, the workload can stretch from 82 games into something closer to a 100-game march. To survive that, players have to stay conditioned and healthy.
That’s where the bench becomes more than just a luxury.
Ball and Kuminga are both stepping into bigger responsibilities than they’ve carried before. Ball is joining a team with championship expectations, and he has never played in the playoffs. Kuminga has postseason experience - 40 games, including 16 during the Warriors’ championship run in 2022 - but his role in Minnesota should be more substantial than it ever was in San Francisco, where he bounced in and out of Steve Kerr’s rotation.
The numbers tell the story of how much Finch will need to manage both players. Kuminga has averaged 22.1 minutes per game in his career, and last season knee injuries plus an inconsistent role limited him to 36 games.
Ball played 72 games last year, just the second time in his career he’s topped 51 in a season, and averaged 28 minutes per game. Before that, he averaged 31.9 minutes over five seasons.
Minnesota is going to need both players fresh when it matters most, which means Finch has to be careful with their workloads now. More minutes may be coming, and probably should be. But a deeper rotation can help keep them from wearing down before the playoffs.
The bench mix can vary, but the point stays the same: the Wolves need enough dependable bodies to support Ball and Kuminga. A case can be made for Bones Hyland over Taurean Prince, but Prince’s spacing, rebounding, and sneaky athleticism would help take pressure off Kuminga. Clark, despite being 6-foot-3, can even play some power forward in certain lineups because of his physical defense.
However Finch arranges it, the message is clear. Minnesota has enough here to start the season with a real 10-man rotation, and Clark sees the logic in that. If the Wolves are serious about chasing a Finals trip past Oklahoma City and San Antonio, they’ll need that depth right away.
In Other News...
Wolves GM Just Raised Big Questions About Two Core Decisions
Matt Lloyds latest comments offered a fairly clear snapshot of how Minnesota is trying to balance the present with the future. The Timberwolves GM talked up the arrival of forward Cody Williams as a player whose defensive versatility could fit multiple lineups, and he also addressed the signing of Jonathan Kuminga while touching on LaMelo Balls work ethic since joining the team and Ayo Dosunmus expected role in the rotation. Along the way, Lloyd also praised Anthony Edwards growth as a leader, a reminder that the Wolves are still trying to build around their young centerpiece even as they keep adding pieces around him.
The bigger long-range questions, though, remain tied to the rosters veteran core and one injured wing whose path back is still uncertain. Lloyd discussed Donte DiVincenzos rehabilitation from a torn Achilles and the teams approach to extensions for DiVincenzo, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert, leaving the timing of those decisions very much open. For a Wolves team trying to stay competitive without boxing itself in, those calls could shape not just this season, but the one after it as well. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Face One Huge Rotation Question In Their New-Look Lineup
The Timberwolves reshaped roster has pushed Chris Finch into one of the more interesting lineup puzzles of the offseason. After trading Julius Randle and Naz Reid for LaMelo Ball and adding Jonathan Kuminga on a two-year contract, Minnesota suddenly has a different kind of top-end talent mix, and the early question is how all the pieces fit without disrupting the balance that made the group work.
Kumingas willingness to embrace a complementary role could make that transition easier, but the bigger challenge may be finding the right rhythm for Ball in a system that will need both creativity and structure. Finch now has to decide how to keep the offense flowing, manage the workload of his new point guard and still leave enough room for Anthony Edwards to stay at the center of the teams identity. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Just Made A Cap Bet On One Young Roster Holdover
The Timberwolves have spent the offseason trying to thread a very specific financial needle, and it led them to clear room below the second apron by moving Josh Green to the Jazz and waiving and stretching John Konchars contract. Those moves opened the door to sign Jonathan Kuminga to a two-year, $12.4 million deal while also keeping Cody Williams in the fold, a reminder that every roster decision now comes with a cap-side consequence.
Williams is the younger holdover Minnesota chose to protect as it sorted through the back end of the roster, even if the choice came with dead money spread across the next three years. The appeal is straightforward enough for a team that values flexibility on defense: Williams gives the Wolves a more useful long-term piece than Konchar, and the front office made its bet accordingly while accepting a short-term hit to preserve that option. [Read more 🡒]