This season has been a perfect blend of absolute disaster and chaos for the Minnesota Timberwolves. From players to coaches, it’s been downright painful on the court and off of it. The Malik Beasley suspension announced yesterday is just the latest. With the Wolves nearing the season’s halfway point, it’s hard to blame anyone involved if they are already looking ahead to next year.
The NBA announced that Beasley would be suspended for 12 games, citing conduct that stemmed from charges in the offseason. It comes as Beasley was putting together the most productive, complete season of his career.
While players have hopped in and out of the starting lineup for varying reasons, Beasley had been the constant, starting 32 of 33 games this year. He’s the legitimate three-point threat that the Wolves have needed, and now he will miss a dozen games without pay.
This wasn’t unexpected; it was just a matter of when the league would hand it down. I’ve seen some say the number of games he was suspended for is excessive. That’s beside the point. If you’re upset Beasley was suspended for 12 games when you thought it should’ve been eight, ask yourself if that’s a hill worth dying on. Go re-read what transpired and what happened.
Beasley issued a statement following the league announcement expressing his remorse.
All of this funnels back to the overarching theme: How do the Wolves reset after this year? Think of everything that has unraveled just since the start of this season:
- Karl-Anthony Towns decided to play after a heartbreaking offseason for him and his family. Not too long into the season, KAT ended up on the COVID-19 reserve list himself. He missed an extended period of time. Hearing this dude talk to the media sometimes makes your heart ache for what he and his family have gone through.
- D’Angelo Russell sputtered throughout the season, hopping in and out of the lineup. Most recently, he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and will miss 4-6 weeks.
- And oh yeah, the Wolves fired Ryan Saunders and replaced him within hours with a coach previously on the Toronto Raptors’ staff, upsetting many league-wide that they didn’t interview others.
- And oh yea, oh yea, they have the worst record in the NBA at 7-26.
The goal isn’t to pile on here, I promise. It’s to point out the abundance of chaos that this team has gone through during just this regular season. It’s unimaginable, yet here they are.
The light at the end of the tunnel comes in a couple of forms. One is simple.
Quite literally, when this nightmare of a season ends for Minnesota, that in itself will signal a reset. Burn all the evidence — well, mostly all (save the Anthony Edwards dunk for sure) — and exhale at the thought of the 2020-21 season being done forever. How they get to that finish line and how badly they are limping towards it is yet to be seen.
The second reset hangs in the balance with that first-round draft pick. It’s a top-3 protected selection that we all know by now. If it lands outside the top 3, it goes to the Golden State Warriors. Knowing the Wolves could have a chance at drafting the likes of Cade Cunningham or Jalen Suggs or whoever in the top 3 is the type of golden ticket that pumps life and energy into your organization. If they have the rights to that pick, it helps to put further distance from this season and look ahead at finding a potential franchise pillar. Lose that draft pick, and it has to be compartmentalized as the final touch on a tough season; lump it in with everything else that has gone wrong for the franchise, both historically and recently.
It’s crazy that we are already talking about an offseason reset at the end of February, but that’s the harsh reality staring the Wolves dead in the eyes.
They can reset later in 2021 by cleansing themselves of this entire season and hopefully keeping their first-round selection. Head coach Chris Finch will have his first full offseason to shift the tides in the way he wants the team to go, and he will have to get the players on the roster to buy in. They can lay some of that groundwork during the rest of this season, but the momentum must carry forward once the year ends.
This season can’t end fast enough.
