The Minnesota Timberwolves were supposed to be an offensive buzzsaw this season. The seventh-best offense a season ago was returning with Karl-Anthony Towns, the self-proclaimed “greatest shooting big man of all time” coming off his best season. Anthony Edwards was an emerging superstar ready to make the leap in Year 3. D’Angelo Russell was gunning for another max contract, and Rudy Gobert joined the team ready to rack up screen assists and put-back dunks. It was supposed to be fun and beautiful and no one was supposed to ask any questions.
Like so many things this season, the offense has gone to shit. Towns has missed 43 games and counting with a “calf strain.” Edwards is an emerging but still raw star who can take over at a moment’s notice. Gobert can’t play effectively with anyone who isn’t a 40 percent three-point shooter. And DLo is the third-best injured player on the Los Angeles Lakers. The Wolves have the 23rd-best offense this season and things have dropped off even further since they traded for Mike Conley. The Wolves are 3-4 without DLo and are in serious danger of dropping out of the play-in tournament altogether.
Teams are hounding Edwards since he returned from his first All-Star game, and he is averaging less than 20 points on 35 percent shooting over the last three games. Minnesota’s offense craters when Edwards takes a seat, with no one left to step up and carry the offense in his absence. With Towns still a week away from being a week away and Conley averaging just 8.5 points per game in a Wolves jersey, the Timberwolves need to find a secondary scorer if they want to make the postseason for the second year in a row.
Jaden McDaniels is beginning to show signs that he can become the secondary scoring option the Timberwolves so desperately need when Edwards can’t get going. The third-year forward made his name as a defensive ace who should be in consideration for an all-defensive selection once the season’s over. But McDaniels is beginning to evolve his offensive game from corner threes and transition buckets to a more well-rounded attack. He’s averaging 13.9 points per game since the Conley traded, a small but significant increase from his season average of 11.6. McDaniels is also scorching hot from behind the three-point line, burying more than 46 percent from deep over the last seven games improving on his 38.5 percent over the season.
McDaniels is doing this while fighting to be involved more regularly in the offense. He’s only attempted 10 or more shots in a game 26 times this season. But the Timberwolves are 15-9 when he gets his shots up and 3-1 when he scores 20 or more points. However, his four 20-point games are the seventh-most by a Timberwolf this season behind Edwards, Russell, Towns, Gobert, Jaylen Nowell, and Naz Reid. If he wants to become the No. 2 option, he has to actually shoot the ball once in a while.
Things should get better alongside Conley, a pass-first point guard, instead of Russell, a shoot-first point guard. Still, McDaniels will have to take charge to fully ascend to the Khris Middleton/Mikal Bridges level-two-way player that he has been compared to over the first few years of his career.
McDaniels’ next evolution will be attacking the rim and finding his own shot. He’s already flashing his leveled-up skills with the ball in his hands getting to the rim and finding a sweet stroke from the midrange. Still, McDaniels needs to be able to finish through contact and get to his spots on the floor more consistently. However, the base is there to become a three-level scorer.
The only roadblock in Jaden’s way is his own mindset. To be a great scorer in the NBA, you have to be an alpha. Just look at Edwards. He’s 21, hasn’t made it out of the first round of the playoffs yet and has only made one All-Star team. Yet, he truly believes he’s the best player in the league. Don’t get me wrong, McDaniels is a badass and seems to truly love being a great defensive player, but he’s got to get in the right mindset on the other side of the ball to level up as a scorer.
The Timberwolves have a tough road ahead to make the playoffs. They are currently in eighth place in the West but just a game out of the fifth seed and 1.5 games away from missing the playoffs entirely. If they want to make a late-season push and make some noise in the playoffs, they’ll need another player to pick up the scoring load. McDaniels has all the tools to become Minnesota’s No. 2 scorer, but he’ll have to rise to the occasion if he wants to be Ant’s right-hand man.
