The Minnesota Timberwolves are heading into a very different season, and the biggest changes aren’t just about who’s taking the floor.
Minnesota has cycled through a lot of roster turnover in recent years, which is unusual for a team that has won five playoff series over the past three seasons. Even after the breakthrough 2023-24 run - the one that ended with the Wolves knocking out the defending champion Denver Nuggets and reaching the Western Conference Finals for the first time in 20 years - only three players from that team remain: Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert.
This offseason has brought another major reset. Julius Randle, Naz Reid, Mike Conley, Kyle Anderson and Joe Ingles are all headed to different teams next season. The Wolves did add talent in the process, with LaMelo Ball coming in as part of the trade involving Reid and Randle, but the harder part to replace is what those veterans brought behind the scenes.
Conley was especially important in that regard. Since arriving in Minnesota in 2023, he has been a steadying force in the locker room.
When the Wolves were rolling, he was the one pointing out how well the group was playing. When things got rocky, he was often the one organizing a team dinner to pull everyone back together.
Anderson filled a similar role after returning following the trade deadline last season. He was a key piece in the 2023 and 2024 playoffs, and he quickly slipped back into the mentoring role he had with players like Ayo Dosunmu and others.
Ingles, even without heavy minutes, gave the team something valuable too. He was a constant source of jokes with teammates and the media, and his understanding of the league and opposing teams became especially useful during the playoffs.
Losing that trio changes the feel of the room. Minnesota is going to have to find a new voice, or several new voices, to replace the leadership that Conley, Anderson and Ingles supplied.
That matters because the Wolves’ emotional swings were a real issue last season. A rough night could bleed into the next one, and the team’s energy seemed to rise and fall in big waves from week to week. That inconsistency was something Tim Connelly made clear he noticed.
"It's the thing that most drives me nuts," Timberwolves' president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said about the team's moodiness. "I’ve never won a championship, so I can’t tell you how to win it, but I’ve observed enough to know that you can’t string together bad days."
"You guys see it. You guys are at the games," Connelly continued. "There’s too many nights where we were not as locked in as we should be, and that’s unacceptable, plain and simple."
Now the burden shifts. With Conley signing with the Boston Celtics and Ingles going home to Australia, the Wolves are losing two of the players who helped keep things pointed in the right direction. That leaves Edwards and McDaniels in a much different spot than they were a couple of years ago.
They’re no longer the young players being guided by the veterans. They’re the veterans now, at least in the way this roster is built. And with Ball and the rest of the new faces coming in, Minnesota’s top players will have to handle more of the leadership load on and off the court.
The real question for next season is whether Edwards and McDaniels can help steer the group through that transition while also cleaning up the regular-season inconsistency that has too often made things harder than they need to be. The Wolves can’t afford to drift, can’t afford to get bored, and can’t afford to keep ignoring the coach’s game plan.
The training wheels are off. Now Minnesota has to prove it can keep balance on its own.
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His exit adds another offseason hole for the Timberwolves to fill at a time when the bench has already been reshuffled. Minnesota has been trying to keep continuity around Finch, but the staff keeps getting thinner, and the next move on the coaching side will matter as much for stability as for any new voice it brings in. [Read more 🡒]