The Minnesota Timberwolves are back on their bull—.
After an impressive eight-game win streak pushed them back into contention talks, the Wolves have dropped two straight to inferior opponents, and the dark thoughts are starting to creep back in. Minnesota pushed to within percentage points of sixth place and an automatic playoff bid. But with the two bad losses, they have fallen back to eighth place and would have to play the 7-8 Play-in Game on the road against the surging LA Clippers if the season ended today.
Minnesota has played a league-high 71 games through Wednesday night. Still, it has one of the easiest remaining schedules, with six of 11 games against teams under .500. However, time is running out in the regular season for the Wolves to get back on track. The turnaround hinges on the player who has had the hardest time figuring out where he sits in Minnesota’s pecking order.
To say Julius Randle has had an up-and-down first season in Minnesota would be the understatement of the century. Randle is averaging his fewest points per game since 2017-18 and his fewest rebounds per game of his career. Randle’s turnover rate is as high as it’s been since he played for the Los Angeles Lakers, and it took more than half the season for him to find the proper role in Minnesota’s rotation.
Randle looked like he was openly feuding with Rudy Gobert early in the season. He vacillated from being too hesitant to look for his own shot to barreling through four defenders to try to get to the paint and throw up a prayer. Randle also became susceptible to turnovers you would see coming a mile away. It was a foregone conclusion among Wolves fans that Tim Connelly would try to move off of Randle at the deadline or that Randle would opt out of the last year of his contract this summer. The Wolves would happily say goodbye and thanks for your one-year of mediocre service.
However, things finally began to click in late January. The Timberwolves were 22-21 and headed for a major disappointment when they rattled off four straight wins, thanks largely to Randle. He averaged 21.3 points, seven rebounds, 4.5 assists, and only 2.3 turnovers during the four-game win streak. The Wolves won a fifth straight game with a 138-113 victory over the Utah Jazz, but Randle was limited to 10 minutes as he exited with a groin injury. The injury forced Randle to miss the next 13 games, and the Timberwolves went 5-8 without their starting power forward.
Randle returned on March 2 after a demoralizing loss in Utah that Anthony Edwards missed due to a one-game suspension for accruing too many technical fouls. Randle’s return immediately sparked Minnesota’s best stretch of the season with eight straight wins, including blowing out the Denver Nuggets on the road and wins over the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs. With Randle in the lineup, the Wolves banged out 13 straight wins from Jan. 22 until they lost to the Pacers on March 17.
During the eight-game win streak after his return from injury, Randle found his ideal role in Minnesota’s offense as a 6-9, 250-pound facilitator. Randle averaged six assists in the eight-game stretch and could have had more if the Wolves hadn’t blown out a few teams and given their starters some much-needed rest.
Randle was painfully close to recording three straight triple-doubles during the streak. He had 25 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists in a 125-110 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. Randle followed that up with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists in a two-point win over the Miami Heat. Two days later, Randle recorded 14 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds in a win against the Victor Wembanyama-less Spurs.
Unfortunately for Timberwolves fans, Randle’s Nikola Jokic impression was short-lived. Randle has reverted to his ball-stopping ways in Minnesota’s two consecutive losses. Randle had four assists and four costly turnovers in Minnesota’s lackluster overtime loss to Indiana on Monday. He followed it up with three assists and six turnovers in an embarrassing loss to the 18-win Pelicans on Wednesday.
The Timberwolves are back to square one after their month of inspired basketball ended with the same kind of whimper Wolves fans have grown accustomed to this season. With the playoffs less than a month away and now a game behind the Golden State Warriors for sixth place in the Western Conference, the Wolves are running out of time to get right. They’ll need Randle at his full playmaking best if they want to get out of the Play-In and win at least one playoff series this season after reaching the Western Conference Finals last year.
Randle isn’t the only player who needs to step up. Naz Reid has been invisible for weeks. Jaden McDaniels took a huge step forward when the calendar flipped to 2025 but has sunk back into his passive ways lately. Edwards needs to hone his clutch-time decision-making, and Gobert needs to find a way to enhance the defense without taking away from Minnesota’s offensive flow.
However, Randle has been Minnesota’s second most important player all season. Now is the time to endear himself to Wolves fans everywhere with a step up in play as the playoff atmosphere sweeps the NBA.
