Inside every NBA franchise are two wolves. One represents mortgaging the future to win now at all costs, and the other keeps the potential championship window open as long as possible.
It’s a question posed to sports fans all the time. Would you rather your team punt on the future to be guaranteed a championship this season or have a bright future ahead with the hope of multiple championships but no guarantees they’ll ever win anything?
The Los Angeles Rams sold their soul and seven years of first-round draft picks to win Super Bowl LVI and immediately went 5-12 the following season. But what if you didn’t have to choose? What if you could be good forever, and everyone would be happy for the rest of their lives?
That’s what the Minnesota Timberwolves are trying to accomplish. After 20 years locked in the NBA’s basement, tortured by David Kahn and Glen Taylor, the Wolves have made the playoffs three seasons in a row, culminating in a Western Conference Finals appearance last season.
The “first timeline” mixed established veterans Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, and Mike Conley with emerging young stars Anthony Edwards, Naz Reid, and Jaden McDaniels, who represent the franchise’s long-term future. The offseason trade of Karl-Anthony Towns officially signals the transition from the KAT-Ant-centric first timeline to the Ant, Naz, and Jaden-centric second timeline.
But there’s one problem with the second timeline. McDaniels is averaging 10.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists on 47.4% shooting to start the season.
McDaniels had 22 points on Thursday night and was once billed as the Scottie Pippen to Edwards’ Michael Jordan. The early returns were promising. The 28th overall pick in the 2020 draft showed flashes almost immediately that he had all the tools to become an elite defender one day.
He started 27 of the 63 games he played in as a rookie on the COVID-impacted 2020-21 Wolves team that won only 23 games and lost its lottery pick in the D’Angelo Russell for Andrew Wiggins trade. While the team has yet another reset after a disappointing season, fans had reason for hope as Edwards emerged as a star in waiting and McDaniels outperformed anyone’s expectations. Along with his dogged defense, McDaniels hit 36.4 percent of his threes as a rookie.
McDaniels’ defense has progressed every season since his rookie year, culminating in a long-awaited second-team All-Defense selection last year as the best perimeter defender on the best defensive team. As much as he’s grown into one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, McDaniels is stuck in neutral on the other end of the court. McDaniels alternates good and bad shooting years.
He shot 36.4% from three as a rookie. However, that dropped to 31.7% in Year 2. McDaniels made huge strides and 39.8% of his 3.4 three-point attempts in Year 3. He shot 33.7% last year and now is down to a career-low 31.4 percent to start this season. Someone once said McDaniels looked like the next Khris Middleton or Mikal Bridges.
However, for that to happen, McDaniels will need to learn how to shoot, attack off the dribble, and score in any efficient way that’s not the hardest fadeaway midrange jumper you can envision. When McDaniels can’t find his shot, the struggles on offense often lead to lapses on defense.
This year, the struggles are at a career-worst on both sides of the ball. McDaniels still can’t consistently score the basketball in Year 5, and it’s starting to affect his defense. He can’t stay in front of anyone on the perimeter and is giving up a runway to the basket, where the Wolves give up the sixth most points in the paint. His fouls are somehow at an all-time high, and things are quickly going the wrong way for once such a promising prospect.
McDaniels was supposed to be Ant’s sidekick for the next decade. However, if he has hit his ceiling, he’s looking down the barrel at a hugely reduced role going forward or a trade if things don’t improve. Ant is living up to his billing as one of the next great American basketball players, and Reid is a folk hero in Minnesota.
He has consistently improved his game every season of his six-year career. McDaniels is quickly becoming the odd man out in Minnesota’s second-timeline Big 3. Therefore, the five-year, $131 million contract that starts this season will soon become an albatross if he remains anything but an all-world defender who shoots 30 percent from three and averages 10 points per game.
All hope is not lost for Jaden McDaniels to become a high-end two-way wing in the NBA. McDaniels played his most complete game of the season in Thursday’s demoralizing 110-105 loss to the Toronto Raptors. He scored 22 points on 8-15 from the field and made 2-6 threes with seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 42 minutes. McDaniels also played some of his best defense of the young season.
McDaniels will need far more games like that to remain a pillar of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ future. He will never average 20 points per game and probably won’t become a consistent All-Star-level player. But suppose McDaniels can find a consistent shot, provide a tertiary scoring option, and continue to improve his already elite defense. In that case, the 24-year-old can still play a major part in the future of a team with championship aspirations.
