There has been some turnover in the front office. Internal staff firings were followed by a new CEO, and most recently the extension of Connelly himself.

Chris Finch still has Anthony Edwards, and the team’s youth should theoretically be poised to take another step forward. That doesn’t hit the mark for everyone though when projecting the outcome of their 2025-26 season.

A hiccup on the horizon for Minnesota Timberwoles

It’s difficult to have a better season than a trip to the Western Conference Finals. Your options include winning the West or winning and NBA Championship. Either outcomes are desirable, but there isn’t much room for error. That’s what has ESPN senior writer Tim Bontemps concerned about Minnesota.

Minnesota has surpassed 51 wins just twice in franchise history: in 2004 and 2024. Last season, Minnesota reached its second straight West finals but won 49 games and finished sixth in the standings.

This is a Timberwolves team that lost Nickeil Alexander-Walker in free agency this summer, requiring youngsters such as Terrence Shannon Jr. and Jaylen Clark to pick up a much bigger load while still leaning heavily on Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert. If either aging veteran misses any time, the Timberwolves don’t have a clear answer to replace them. Naz Reid, who got a five-year, $125 million deal to come back as a free agent this summer, isn’t strong enough defensively to make up for Gobert’s absence, and last year’s No. 8 pick, Rob Dillingham, remains a huge question mark in his ability to eventually take over for Conley.

Minnesota, behind Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, a flexible roster and Chris Finch’s coaching, will still be a difficult out next spring. But until then, given the strength of the West and the questions on the roster, improving from last year’s win total could prove difficult.

ESPN

It’s interesting that Bontemps suggests improving the record from last season is a difficult measure, but the forecast placed on Minnesota is a 51-31 outcome. That would be a two-win improvement in the regular season. The standings order came down to the final day last season, and those two games will likely matter.

If there’s a question mark that Bontemps nails, it’s Rob Dillingham. It still seems surprising that Bones Hyland landed the last roster spot as opposed to a bigger swing. There is a lot being left on the shoulders of Mike Conley, and he already showed that was a mistake last season.

Related: MN Timberwolves Sign Familiar Guard for Final Roster Spot

Terrence Shannon Jr. showed he was the real deal down the stretch last season. He made a mockery of the summer league. Already 25 years old, there’s no real reason to continue using kid gloves with him. Finch needs Dillingham and Jaylen Clark to take another step forward, and that may ultimately be too much to ask.

Given what was paid to Nickeil Alexander-Walker though, it’s unlikely that Minnesota didn’t make the more fiscally responsible decision. This team has the pieces to make the playoffs in the top-half of the conference. They now also have the experience to know what it takes once there.

Third time’s the charm for Minnesota

If it’s frustrating that the Minnesota Timberwolves have come this close for two consecutive seasons and not gotten the job done, then you’ve probably forgotten franchise history. This team has been around since 1989 and spent more years being a doormat than a contender.

There is virtually no path for the 2025-26 iteration to be a doormat. They are going to be a contender. To what extent that plays out is the only question.

Related: New MN Timberwolves Owners Make First Big Hire

At the end of the day, the Timberwolves do have two starting roles leveraged towards aging players. They also don’t need to put a significant focus on the regular season short of playoff positioning. With the roster where it stands, and the assumed blessing to add, new owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore could celebrate a nice inaugural season.

But maybe Chris Finch & Co are big Green Day fans because the moment December ended, the Timberwolves woke up. To start the new year, they’ve been a completely different team. Since Jan 1, the Wolves are 11-4. They’re shooting over 50% from the field and 40% from the 3-point line, while holding opponents to 48% and 37%, in those same categories respectively.

The Timberwolves are now 11-4 since their “players only meeting” on New Years Eve.

No team in the NBA has more wins in 2023 than Minnesota.

— Kyle Theige (@KyleTheige) January 29, 2023

Recently, wins have come over quality opponents, too. Minnesota has won three-straight, all of them over western conference foes (Pelicans, Grizzlies and Kings) ranked higher than them in the standings.

Wolves Climbing up the Western Conference Ladder

Speaking of the conference standings, don’t look now but the Wolves are climbing those faster than a hyper 5-year-old at a new playground and now find themselves in 6th place, only two games out of the 3rd.

So are the streaking Minnesota Timberwolves for real? That’s the big question, now. Common sense would tell us that they should only get better. D’Angelo Russell is playing some of the best basketball of his career and it appears Rudy Gobert has finally settled into the lineup on both sides of the floor.

And let’s not forget the eventual return of Karl-Anthony Towns, who should be back in the next month or so. All signs point to an upward-trending squad in the second half of the season.

Not so fast…

But if we know anything about this franchise, it’s that “common sense” isn’t very common. In reality, DLo’s hot streak could turn cold tomorrow and nobody would be surprised. And we do not yet know if Gobert will ever get back to being the same player as what the Wolves thought they traded for when they gave away the farm for him last offseason.

We really have no way of knowing how smoothly KAT reintegrates himself into the lineup, when he gets back. If you’ll remember, the two-big man approach had a rocky start, before his calf injury. Does having less of Naz Reid really equate to better results? We’ll find out.

Wolves will go where Anthony Edwards takes them

What we know for sure, though, is that Anthony Edwards is a rising superstar and he’s proven that during the Wolves recent hot streak. In his last five games, he’s averaging 34.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. Minnesota is 4-1 in that stretch. Last night vs Sacramento, Edwards went off in the 3rd quarter, then hit multiple daggers to close it out late.

Ant Edwards in the Timberwolves win:

34 PTS
10 REB
6 AST
5 Threes pic.twitter.com/hwvDplUoTI

— NBA (@NBA) January 29, 2023

If the Timberwolves are going to grab a top-four seed in the West, they will do it by riding the superstar ascension of their young phenom. If Ant loses focus and stumbles down the stretch, they’ll be a play-in team again.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

It was an eventful weekend throughout the NBA. The Wolves had to wait until Sunday night to get in on the festivities. Losing to the Rockets wasn’t an option, if they wanted to keep any chance of swooping in and stealing the Western Conference 6-seed before the 82-game regular season comes to a close on April 10.

Earlier Sunday, the Denver Nuggets beat the floundering LA Lakers, all but killing LeBron & Co’s chances of making the play-in tournament. With the win, Denver jumped over Utah, who lost to Golden State on Saturday night, and landed in the 5th seed, still 2 games better than Minnesota. That meant the Wolves looked up, after beating Houston, and saw it was the Jazz now sitting above them (by 1.5 games).

Western Conference Standings

1. Phoenix…………… 0.0 GB – clinched
2. Memphis…………. 7.0 GB – clinched
3. Golden State…. 12.5 GB – clinched
4. Dallas…………….. 13.5 GB – clinched
5. Denver…………… 15.5 GB
6. Utah………………. 16.0 GB
7. Minnesota……….. 17.5 GB
8. LA Clippers………. 23.5 GB
9. New Orleans……. 28.0 GB
10. San Antonio…….. 29.0 GB
11. LA Lakers……….. 31.0 GB

Timberwolves Remaining Schedule

The Minnesota Timberwolves have three games remaining and should be favorites to win all three. Both the Spurs and Wizards have losing records and the Bulls could be resting for the playoffs by the season finale.

• 4/5: Washington Wizards (34-44)
• 4/7: San Antonio Spurs (33-45)
• 4/10: Chicago Bulls (45-33)

Nuggets Remaining Schedule

The Denver Nuggets play on all the same nights as the Wolves, through the rest of the schedule. Memphis is the only team remaining on their slate who has a winning record. They’re already slotted into the 2nd seed in the Western Conference.

• 4/5: San Antonio Spurs (33-45)
• 4/7: Memphis Grizzlies (55-23)
• 4/10: Los Angeles Lakers (31-47)

Jazz Remaining Schedule

Here’s where things get a bit more interesting. The 6th seed Utah Jazz are losers in SIX of their last SEVEN games and have one extra contest remaining on their schedule, than the Wolves and Nuggets.

TWO of their opponents (Grizz, Suns) sit atop the Western Conference. Should Utah lose both of those games and Minnesota win on Tuesday and Thursday, the Wolves and Jazz would enter the last day of the regular season (April 10) with the same record.

• 4/5: Memphis Grizzlies (55-23)
• 4/6: Oklahoma City Thunder (23-55)
• 4/8: Phoenix Suns (62-16)
• 4/10: Portland Trailblazers (27-51)

Tiebreakers

The Timberwolves hold the tiebreaker over the Nuggets but not over the Jazz. So finishing with the same record won’t be enough to overtake Utah for the 6th seed.

To avoid the play-in tournament, Minnesota needs to win out. Then, either the Jazz find a way to lose 3 of their last 4 OR the Nuggets lose 2 of their remaining 3. Neither are likely to happen but the Jazz have lost a lot recently and have a pretty hellish schedule remaining, as long as the Suns and Grizzlies aren’t resting key players this week.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

If the NBA playoffs started today, my schedule would need some rearranging. Who would want to miss any of a potential 7 game series between your Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder? If having a social life in this world requires me to wonder what’s going on during Minnesota’s first postseason basketball since 2004, that’s not the life for me.

However, rather than preparing for war against Russell Westbrook and company, the Wolves’ still have 21 regular season games. When you break down who they’ll be facing in those contests, it appears the rest of the way will be similar to Tom Thibodeau’s sideline yelling. This next month and a half is going to be aggressive.

The Minnesota Timberwolves Remaining Schedule Includes:

• 4 games vs. top 3 Western Conference teams (Hou (2), G.S., S.A.)
• Only 1 game vs. bottom 2 Western Conference teams (Dal, Pho)
• A back-to-back set against Houston (away) and San Antonio (home)
• Game (at home) against 2nd place Eastern Conference teams (Bos)
• 11 road games (6 vs. teams that would currently make playoffs)

Buckle your seat belts, Wolves fans. Our remaining travels are going to be treacherous.

Reaching our end destination of the playoffs, isn’t a foregone conclusion. Despite being tied for third in the Western Conference (S.A. has higher win %), Minnesota is currently only 3.5 games ahead of the 9th placed Clippers. With that said, barring a meltdown way more aggressive than our final 21 games or our head coach’s in-game demeanor, we’ll see the postseason.

Those 9th-place Clippers just traded away 5x All-Star Blake Griffin (no f*cken chance I’m calling Griffin a superstar). As for who is one spot ahead of Doc Rivers’ squad, that would be the 31-26 Pelicans. Unfortunately for New Orleans, they recently lost their SUPERSTAR Demarcus Cousins to a blown Achilles. For those reasons, neither of those teams should be considered ANY sort of threat.

In a perfect, yet realistic, world; we can close with the three seed by outperforming the Spurs. A first round matchup vs. the likes of Denver or Portland sounds more appealing than facing Carmelo Anthony, Paul George, and Westbrook’s crazy ass. Gregg Popovich may be a basketball savant, but I’m not sure even his legendary-self can coach the Spurs’ current roster to a home playoff series:

Pop isn’t optimistic Kawhi Leonard will return this season. pic.twitter.com/DZH30Pxsbt

— ESPN (@espn) February 21, 2018

Johnny Minnesota @TheJohnnyMN
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com