ESPN Experts All Doubting the Timberwolves (Again)
The Minnesota Timberwolves closed out the regular season with a six point win over the New Orleans Pelicans, putting their final record cementing their final record at 49-33; which happens to be their exact final record from 2024-25.
This time around, the Wolves must run a playoff gauntlet, to reach the Western Conference Finals again — a road that begins in Denver, against the Nikola Jokic and a Nuggets team that comes in riding a 12-game win streak to end their regular season.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves limped into the postseason playing ~.500 basketball, going 10-9 going back to March 7. Of course, knee injuries that kept both Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards out for a large chunk of March and April games are largely to blame for Minnesota’s late-season struggles.
Not only are both players now presumed healthy, but we have very recent evidence to suggest this Wolves team is capable of flipping a playoff switch that makes them a completely different animal, this time of year.
You only have to go back last season for a good example. Last April, the Minnesota Timberwolves entered the West as large 6-seed underdogs against the 3-seed Lakers… just to easily wipe LeBron, Luka and the boys out in five.
Sportsbooks, ESPN experts all out on Minnesota Timberwolves
Well, the script will have to be similar in 2026, because Minnesota is an even bigger underdog this time around, against the Nuggets. Not only do sportsbooks have Denver set as rather large -345 favorites (Wolves +278), but expert predictions are starting to come out as well.
And unsurprisingly, all 12 of the ESPN experts who put down their projection for MIN vs DEN have the Nuggets beating the Timberwolves in anywhere from five to seven games.
| Insider | Winner | Games |
|---|---|---|
| Jerry Bembry | Nuggets | 7 |
| Vincent Goodwill | Nuggets | 7 |
| Baxter Holmes | Nuggets | 6 |
| Zach Kram | Nuggets | 5 |
| Tim MacMahon | Nuggets | 7 |
| Dave McMenamin | Nuggets | 7 |
| Anthony Slater | Nuggets | 7 |
| Ramona Shelburne | Nuggets | 5 |
| Marc J. Spears | Nuggets | 6 |
| Michael C. Wright | Nuggets | 7 |
| Ohm Youngmisuk | Nuggets | 7 |
| Eric Moody | Nuggets | 6 |
While seven of the respondents see the series going the distance, both Ramona Shelburne and Zach Kram have Minnesota winning just a single game, which feels light.
While the MN Timberwolves do not deserve to be favorites going into this series, given the circumstances mentioned above, it’s important to remember that these same ESPN “experts” picked the Lakers to beat the Wolves last year by a landslide 11-1 advantage, just shy of the 12-0 sweep posted today.
Despite going 1-3 against Denver this season and all the experts high on their recent hot streak, the Nuggets should not expect the same Minnesota Timberwolves they saw anytime during the regular season.
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