Have the Timberwolves Done Enough This Offseason?
With the NBA Draft behind us and free agency winding down, let's look at where the Minnesota Timberwolves stand.
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No matter what transpired in the NBA transaction season, the Western Conference was always going to be a meat grinder. Even with Paul George leaving the Clippers for the Sixers, there are many good-to-great teams. The Houston Rockets won 41 games last season and still missed the play-in tournament by five whole games. Nothing we have seen has diswayed me from that being the case again in 2025.
For the Timberwolves, this should be a positive. Coming off a 56-win season, the team essentially swapped Kyle Anderson, whose role diminished in his age 30 season, for 36-year-old wing shooter Joe Ingles and traded for the draft rights to Rob Dillingham. Ideally, Dillingham can fill the minutes void left by the departures of Monte Morris and Jordan McLaughlin. Otherwise, the starting five is still intact and the reigning Sixth Man of the Year is, too. Add Nickeil Alexander-Walker and the top nine still looks substantive, at least on paper.
Maybe the Timberwolves will feel the departures of Anderson and Morris, but I don’t think their production is irreplaceable and you have to weigh those against the losses sustained by other teams in the conference. The Clippers lost Paul George and now have to rely on Kawhi Leonard and James Harden in their mid-30s. LeBron James offered to take a discount so the Lakers could get Klay Thompson, Jonas Valancuinas, DeMar DeRozan and others, and they got nada. Denver replaced Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson with Dario Saric and maybe Russell Westbrook. Suddenly, retaining your top seven rotation players from last season looks pretty good!
Everyone Wants To Win, Not Everyone Can
The thing about the West is that everyone who is in a position to try winning more games is. Except Portland, who really aren’t in position to do so. Memphis will have Ja Morant back and be improved. Sacramento added DeRozan to a team with D’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis and will at the least score a ton. Much like Philadelphia, I need to see proof of concept from this Phoenix team, but they picked up Morris and Mason Plumlee while retaining Royce O’Neale. I may not believe in them but they won’t be bad. Houston and San Antonio are going to try taking another step forward.
Where the drop off comes will be fascinating to see. The Lakers will be hoping for another healthy season from both James and Anthony Davis, but have enough talent alone to float in contention. The same is likely true for the Warriors and Clippers, too. There are also the Pelicans and Mavericks, who added Thompson and he feels like a wild card for them. Writing this out and Utah should probably join Portland in the future planning group, especially if they do deal Lauri Maarkanen this summer.
Who Is The Best In The West?
You could argue that for all the talent in the West, the only team that improved the most was Oklahoma City, the reigning no.1 seed in the conference. Trading for Alex Caruso and signing Isaiah Hartenstein and retaining key rotation players sets the Thunder up well to finish atop the west again. However, a slow start or injury could reduce that certainty given the talent level of the conference.
What the Timberwolves have done in brushing up or retooling the roster around the fringes appears well done. There are conference rivals around them who have bigger questions about replacing outgoing talent in the coming season. If this is more or less the Timberwolves’ 2025 roster, there’s no reason they cannot compete for a top-four seed in the conference once again.