Minnesota Timberwolves Team Review

 

2024-25 Finish: 48-34

 

Season Highlight:

The Wolves got off to a hot start last season with both Jimmy Butler and Anthony Davis having survived the “new GM trade frenzy” period and having stuck around, and being the perfect pairing that everyone would expect them to be. Put that with Val at the C spot and other scoring guards, and the team was firing on all cylinders and looking like a real contender. Unfortunately injuries did slow them down along the way, but they had an overall successful first season for new GM Pat (Shay) who has been steady in his moves and decisions so far.

 

Season Lowlight:

The injury cloud. There’s always a cloud of injuries for every team each year (Unless you’re OKC…) but in Minnesota it was a big dark one with Davis often being injured over his career and Butler also missing time often with soft tissue stuff, too. This meant they had to go through parts of the year without their main guys and it really halted their stellar start and limited them down the stretch. Big men lacking on the roster didn’t help either and they really will hope for a much healthier run this coming season.

 

Best Trade:

Wolves get: Cole Anthony, Ousane Dieng, Andre Jackson Jr, Julian Phillips, Toronto 2027 1^st round pick, 2025 Pick 50, 2026 Boston 2^nd round pick, and Phoenix 2028 2^nd round pick
Wolves send: Kevon Looney and Donte DiVincenzo

The Wolves needed to fill out a roster of bodies and did so in a strong way trading some very 2k friendly veterans for a swathe of youth and picks. They avoided the below 14 roster fine hole and got some solid role players for the future.

 

Worst Trade:

Wolves get: D’Angelo Russell and Lowest of Washington or Spurs 2029 1^st round pick
Wolves send: Dorian Finney-Smith and Minnesota 2027 1^st Round Pick

This one might come back to haunt the Wolves. It’s not bad value on paper in the initial, with Russell filling a scoring hole at guard especially while Butler was out, and DFS not being a massive contributor, but 6 months later and Russell is now gone and they are left with the need to have a great 26/27 season as their pick is now gone, despite having a likely low pick still from the deal in 2029.

 

Other Notable Trades:

Wolves get: Jon Konchar and Blake Wesley
Wolves send: Elfrid Payton and Aaron Holiday

Overall a bit of a push and play deal. No real key deciding factor either way.

 

Free Agency:

The Wolves were relatively stable this offseason with only a couple of players disappearing into the ether with no NBA contract, like Cam Reddish. They had Landry Shamet and D’Angelo Russell to contend with in free agency and decided to keep the cap holds of both on the roster, even though removing Russell may have given them the Full MLE and therefore a leg up on some other teams. Russell was considered a key piece though, and Shamet a roster filler. Shamet the more likely to return.

D'Angelo Russell – UFA, no signing bonus, so he’s going to be tough to retain!

Landry Shamet – UFA, with a resign bonus, so a good return target to fill a roster.

 

 

Star:

Anthony Davis

Davis is the star every year no matter where he plays as his impact on both ends of the court cannot be understated. He poured in 28 points a game this past year with 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.4 steals and 2 blocks per game on efficient shooting to boot. Butler was great, and is great, but the teams success was built around Davis being on the court and a menace to teams on both ends.

 

Flop:

Dorian Finney-Smith

It’s a tough one, cause Smith doesn’t demand the ball and plays stellar defence, so it’s hard to judge the 1%ers he brings to the table around stars like Butler and Davis, but is paltry 6 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists as a starter are tough to swallow when you’re paying the guy 8 figures. His impact isn’t as great as some other defensive stalwarts either, since he’s not a huge steals and blocks guy, and if he’s shooting 34% from the field and 32% from deep, it’s not providing spacing, either.

 

 

Draft Grades:

Pick 19 – Jeremiah Fears

Pick 22 – Will Riley

Pick 38 – Koby Brea

Pick 50 – Vladisav Goldin

Draft Grade: A+

The Wolves were the benefactors of the falling Jeremiah Fears in the end, as he tumbled all the way down to nearly outside the teens and was swooped up by the pick that was sent off in the Jimmy Butler offseason trade. Getting a young, top 10 talent that deep is a great get and really fills a hole in the team, too. Riley was a nice upside swing with his size on the wing, and Brea and Goldin both landed 2way deals and bring some positional versatility at the 2way slots also.

 

The Future:

The Wolves have some heavy decisions to make soon as it might just be the last year that Valanciunas is in the league, which will leave a gaping hole in the big man spot. The stars are aging, too, with Davis looking around for a buddy as the newly acquired Paul George still has some 2k juice, but is fading fast in the NBA. Maybe it’s time to shuffle that deck, get younger and prolong the competitive window? They have started that track with Fears and Riley, and have other nice young role players in Cole Anthony, Ousmane Dieng and Andre Jackson, so the move isn’t that far away. The team could compete this year still, but it’s likely to be an intermediate year as they find their form of the future.

  C: Jonas Valanciunas / Ousmane Dieng
  PF: Anthony Davis / Julian Phillips
  SF: Paul George / Will Riley
  SG: Andre Jackson Jr. / John Konchar / Blake Wesley
  PG: Jeremiah Fears / Cole Anthony