Experts are Wrong: Lakers Don’t Have the Talent to Hang with Timberwolves
The 6-seed Minnesota Timberwolves will begin their 2025 NBA Playoff run on Saturday night against the 3-seed Los Angeles Lakers. It’s a battle of the stars in LA. You won’t get more star power in these playoffs than LeBron James, Anthony Edwards and Luka Doncic sharing the floor together in Hollywood.
Experts all picking Los Angeles Lakers over Minnesota Timberwolves
It’s that 2-on-1 Laker mismatch over the Wolves in true star power that has the big names in national NBA media almost unanimously picking the 3-seed LA Lakers to win this first round series.
| Expert | Affiliation | MIN vs LAL Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Kevin Pelton | ESPN | Lakers in 7 |
| Marc J. Spears | ESPN | Lakers in 7 |
| Bobby Marks | ESPN | Lakers in 6 |
| Ramona Shelburne | ESPN | Lakers in 6 |
| Dave McMenamin | ESPN | Lakers in 6 |
| Tim Bontemps | ESPN | Wolves in 7 |
| John Hollinger | The Athletic | Lakers in 7 |
| Zach Harper | The Athletic | Lakers in 7 |
| Charles Barkley | NBA.com/TNT | Lakers |
| Kenny Smith | NBA.com/TNT | Lakers |
| Shaq | NBA.com/TNT | Lakers |
A deeper dive into more expert picks at more of the mainstream sports media outlets (below) shows how little chance the national media is giving Minnesota to win this series. Out of 46 experts tallied between six different national media outlets, 40 picked the Lakers to win, only 6 picked the Timberwolves.
- ESPN – 11 of 12 experts picked Lakers to win series — (only Bontemps picked Timberwolves)
- CBS Sports – 5 of 5 experts picked Lakers to win series
- BetMGM (The Athletic) – 6 of 7 experts picked Lakers to win series
- Yahoo Sports – 6 of 7 experts picked Lakers to win series
- USA Today Sports – 4 of 4 experts picked Lakers to win series
- NBA.com/TNT – 8 of 11 experts picked Lakers to win series
So what gives, are the Minnesota Timberwolves really that outmatched in this series? A look beyond the stars makes you wonder if these “experts” really dug into this series at all.
Lakers lack talent behind big three
Because once you get beyond LeBron, Luka and their extremely talented third-wheel, Austin Reeves (20.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 5.8 APG), there isn’t another player on roster that most NBA fans could pick out in a lineup of random six to seven-footers. Below is a table of Lakers contributors who will get big minutes in round one vs the Timberwolves.
Just like I left Reeves off, along with Doncic and James, you will not find the Timberwolves’ other two max players, Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle (or Edwards) on the table either. These are “the other” players both teams will be relying on in this series.
| LA Non-Stars | 2024-25 Stats | MIN Non-Stars | 2024-25 Stats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rui Hachimura (F) | 13.1 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.4 APG | Mike Conley (G) | 8.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.6 APG | |
| Jaxson Hayes (C) | 6.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.0 APG | Jaden McDaniels (F) | 12.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.0 APG | |
| Gabe Vincent (G) | 6.4 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 1.4 APG | Donte DiVincenzo (G) | 11.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.6 APG | |
| Jordan Goodwin (G) | 5.6 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.4 APG | Nickeil Alexander-Walker (G) | 9.4 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.7 APG | |
| Jared Vanderbilt (F/C) | 4.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.1 APG | Naz Reid (F/C) | 14.2 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.3 APG | |
| Dorian Finney-Smith (F/C) | 7.9 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 1.4 APG | Jalen Clark (G) | 4.1 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 0.7 APG |
As you can see, the Minnesota Timberwolves have three other players — Jaden McDaniels, Donte DiVincenzo and Naz Reid — averaging above 10 points per game this season. That doesn’t include Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who is averaging 9.4 points per game.
That’s seven Wolves players who averaged over 9 points per game this season, most of them names that are recognizable in the NBA world. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers have only one player — Rui Hachimura — averaging double-digit points, outside of LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
Related: LA Lakers Legend Scared of the Minnesota Timberwolves for One Reason…
Behind those four, Dorian Finney-Smith’s 7.9 PPG is the highest average scorer. Nobody else on the Lakers roster is responsible for more than 7 points per game in 2024-25. Many of the others didn’t even see the floor prior to the shocking blockbuster trade that landed Doncic in LA.
MN Timberwolves have proven they can dominate with size
The Minnesota Timberwolves proved last season, in a first round sweep of the Phoenix Suns, that not only can they play with small-ball lineups, but they can use their enormous size advantage to completely dominate them inside.
In order for the Lakers to win this series, LeBron James will have to be money from deep, because the Wolves are going to make it next to impossible for him to get into the paint with Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert down low supervising things. In all honesty, I do not believe LeBron and the Lakers are ready for the intensity Minnesota is going to bring defensively.
Minnesota Timberwolves outstanding team defense pic.twitter.com/nCaaNffUWk
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) March 13, 2025
Sure, LeBron james is arguably the greatest player of all time and he has certainly improved his outside shot in recent seasons, but the self-proclaimed “King” shot a “meh” 37% from three this year (34.9% career).
That’s not saying this won’t be a very competitive series. Luke and LeBron will make sure of that. But as long as Antyhony Edwards plays like the superstar he is and the Minnesota Timberwolves are able to use their size and depth to their advantage, I just cannot see this paper-thin Lakers roster hanging with the Wolves in a seven-game series.
Prediction: Timberwolves in 6
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