It’s mid-December, which means the most wonderful time of the year is right around the corner. NBA All-Star voting season is nigh. When voting opens on December 19th, we’ll all have some big decisions to make while half-assing it at work before Christmas. But this year, one decision should come easy to fans, the media, players, and Adam Silver. The Minnesota Timberwolves should have three representatives when the game tips off at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on February 18th. Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, and Karl-Anthony Towns are all playing some of the best basketball of their careers. They have the Timberwolves off to the best start in franchise history and the best record in the NBA a quarter of the way through the season.
The Timberwolves have only had multiple All-Stars four times in franchise history. Kevin Garnett and Tom Gugliotta joined forces on the All-Star team in 1997. It was Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak in 2002, Garnett and Sam Cassell in 2004, and Jimmy Butler and KAT showed their friendship off to the world together as All-Stars in 2018 before Rachel Nichols got in between them.
The Golden State Warriors were the last team to get three All-Stars in one year when Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant made it in 2019. Only the association’s elite franchises, like the Warriors, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Lakers, usually get three All-Stars. But the Timberwolves have crashed the party to start the season and are on pace to rack up 64 wins by the end of the year.
Edwards immediately looked like an MVP candidate to start his fourth NBA season until a hip injury slowed him down over the last two weeks. Gobert is the betting favorite to win his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award, and he’s possibly playing the best basketball of his career after everyone condemned the trade that sent him to Minnesota two summers ago. After a slow start to the season, KAT is averaging better than 21 points and nine rebounds while shooting 51/43/90. While all three are objectively playing at an All-Star level, it will be challenging for Minnesota to get all three stars to Indianapolis.
The talent pool in the NBA is as deep as it’s ever been, and there are the same number of All-Star roster spots as there were in 1982 when there were 23 teams in the NBA. Therefore, it’s harder than ever to get one player on the team, let alone three. In the West, Edwards faces a gauntlet of guards to beat out for his second appearance in the All-Star Game. Luka Doncic, Steph Curry, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Devin Booker, De’Aaron Fox, Kyrie Irving, Jamal Murray, and Desmond Bane are all in the mix to start the season. That’s nine quality guards vying for four to six roster spots. Minnesota’s record should give Edwards an edge, and anything short of a prolonged injury or shooting 3-19 for the next 25 games should be plenty for the No. 1 player on the best team to secure his spot.
Things get tricky when trying to project both Gobert and Towns onto the final team. KAT and Rudy might cancel each other out, especially when they have to go up against LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Nikola Jokic, Kawhi Leonard, Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Paul George, Jaren Jackson Jr, Domantas Sabonis, Alperen Sengun, Victor Wembanyama, and Chet Holmgren all making a case for themselves to be an All-Star this year. Minnesota’s twin towers could be in the awkward position of being two deserving players on the best team who get pushed out by all-time greats in their late 30s and two rookies with hopes of becoming the faces of the league sooner rather than later.
While playing for the best team in the league has earned players like Klay Thompson, Rajon Rondo, Draymond Green, and Jeff Teague perhaps a few more All-Star nods than they should have, they all (except Teague) were representing teams with the biggest global followings in the sport. The Wolves don’t have that following just yet, and it may be another obstacle in getting the three deserving stars in the game. The silver lining for hopeful Wolves fans is the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks team that finished with 60 wins and saw four players (Teague, Al Horford, Kyle Korver, and Paul Millsap) named to the All-Star team. None of those players had a particularly memorable season, but the Hawks were by far the best team in the East in the regular season and maxed out their All-Star potential.
If I had to throw a prediction out more than a month before the teams will be named, I would say that Edwards and Gobert make the team outright, with Towns high on the injury replacement list, which could be lengthy this season. The Minnesota Timberwolves are the best team in the NBA right now and have three of the 25 best players. It may be improbable, but the Wolves should be well-represented with three All-Stars in Indianapolis this season.
