With just a few minutes left in regulation and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ season on the line, Nickeil Alexander-Walker hoisted up an ill-advised shot from the left corner.
Miss.
Heading into the overtime period of Game 4, Alexander-Walker had only made one of his five field goal attempts. After nearly two minutes into the fifth quarter, Minnesota found themselves down one and in desperate need of a basket. Karl-Anthony Towns whipped the ball to the left corner.
Alexander-Walker… hits the corner three!
Already the biggest shot of his four-year career, Nickeil would give the Denver Nuggets déjà vu seconds later with another made three from the same left-side corner, this time off the catch of a Mike Conley-skip pass. The Timberwolves would live to see another day in the playoffs.
Following Alexander-Walker’s heroic efforts in Game 4, Anthony Edwards, who led the way for the Wolves with 34 points, directed his praise to NAW in a way only Ant could.
But Edwards wasn’t the only one who thought highly of No. 9. Chris Finch coached Nickeil as an assistant in New Orleans and was a big proponent of acquiring Alexander-Walker at the trade deadline.
After an abundance of NAW praise from the Wolves organization, I decided to reach out to someone close to Nickeil for a better perspective on why guys like Finch and Edwards enjoy having the 6’5” wing in Minnesota.
Wabissa Bede (@BEDE_1) is a Program Aide for Texas A&M’s Men’s Basketball and former teammate of Alexander-Walker’s at Virginia Tech for two seasons. I reached out to him for a brief interview about his friend and former teammate’s play as of late.
After meeting Nickeil at the Adidas Nations tournament, Wabissa discussed how the Canadian-born hooper helped recruit him to Virginia Tech, even going as far as reaching out to him more often than most D1 recruiters.
‘Keil actually recruited me kinda heavily to go to [Virginia] Tech. He would text me about it quite often, sometimes more than coaches. Coming into college is always a hard thing to do. But going into battle with a brother, somebody who won’t back down [from competition], makes things a lot easier.
Wabissa has made it a priority of his to keep up with his close friend’s NBA journey. And after Nickeil saw a significant increase in playing time because of Jaden McDaniels’ season-ending injury, Bede believes Alexander-Walker’s recent postseason performances have been a result of hard work.
He’s just a real dude who works hard for his sh*t… plain and simple. Lately, he’s been really aggressive, and I love that. He’s taking more ownership on defense. And offensively, he’s really starting to key in on trying to score from his spots where he knows he can score more efficiently.
Wabissa is also a firm believer that Nickeil is a near-perfect fit alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards. Like Finch and Edwards, Bede applauded NAW for his lockdown defense and ability to space the floor.
He’s becoming that 3-and-D type of player that every team needs… Picking up [Jamal] Murray in the full court, taking charges, etc. He’s really starting to lock in on those defensive intangibles… And on offense making those big catch-and-shoot shots… Every team needs those types of guys.
After discussing with Wabissa about his days with Nickeil at Virginia Tech, it’s apparent why Finch and Edwards are so fond of NAW. He’s got that certain it factor that so many of the high-end role players in today’s NBA have. He fights through tough screens, runs at full speed to get back in transition, and has the confidence to shoot the ball in do-or-die situations, even when his shot isn’t falling.
Through Minnesota’s 5-game playoff series, Alexander-Walker only averaged 8.4 points per game on 42.9% shooting. Sure, single-digit scoring from a player on the wrong side of a gentleman’s sweep may seem insignificant, but what NAW provided the injury-riddled Wolves cannot be ignored.
After losing Jaden McDaniels to a broken hand after his infamous Brawl Against The Wall, Minnesota entered the postseason in desperate need of some help on the perimeter. With McDaniels sidelined for the foreseeable future, Finch had few options for filling the vital 3-and-D wing role. After being told by his coaches and teammates to “just be ready” hours in advance of a win-or-go-home play-in contest, Nickeil would showcase exactly why Chris Finch pleaded for Minnesota’s front office to acquire him.
Alexander-Walker got his first start as a Timberwolf in the team’s second play-in game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He held his cousin, All-Star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, to 5-for-19 shooting in a pivotal game that allowed Minnesota to make the playoffs. Finch kept Nickeil in the starting five for Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets. This time, though, the outcome would be far different for NAW and the Wolves.
After suffering a 29-point loss in Game 1 against Denver, Chris Finch replaced Alexander-Walker with Taurean Prince to provide his team with some additional floor spacing. But with Prince in the starting lineup, the Timberwolves were without a point-of-attack defender to contain Jamal Murray, the Nuggets’ score-first point guard. Murray would lead the way for Denver’s Game 2 victory with a 40-point scoring barrage. Finch understood he’d need to revert back to Alexander-Walker to give his team a chance. And although Jamal Murray and his team would be able to eliminate the Wolves from playoff contention after just five contests, Alexander-Walker proved to be a competent two-way wing deserving of a spot in Minnesota’s rotation.
With the Minnesota Timberwolves’ off-season now in full swing, the front office will have several tough choices to make in the coming months. However, deciding whether or not Nickeil Alexander-Walker remains a part of the roster shouldn’t be one of them. NAW provides Minnesota with additional wing depth and an insurance policy for whenever McDaniels eventually returns from injury and inevitably finds himself in foul trouble. A young and hard-nosed defender with the ability to knock down shots from beyond the arc, Nickeil is exactly the type of player the Wolves need moving forward.
