In the big picture of Timberwolves history, this year is wildly successful.
Before a recent five-game losing streak, which ended Monday against the shell of Warriors team, the Wolves had picked up steam as a sneaky NBA title contender.
Even now, entering play Wednesday, the Wolves are 28-19. There’s still a decent chance they will finish in the top-six (or higher) in the West. And they showed last season that they can rise to the occasion in the playoffs after making a run to the conference finals from the No. 6 seed.
Success, though, creates expectations. With Anthony Edwards continuing to ascend, both the team and its fans want to maximize his gifts and dream about championships.
But as Star Tribune Wolves writer Chris Hine and I discussed on Wednesday’s Daily Delivery podcast, it’s hard to see how the Wolves are going to get much better this season.
They are what they are, both for better and for worse. Let’s explore why at the start of today’s 10 things to know:
- It occurs to me that the Wolves are having a more successful but still frustrating version of the Vikings’ 2025 season. The Vikings needed J.J. McCarthy to play well in order to be a playoff team. Instead, he often was ineffective and injured when it mattered. The Wolves needed Terrence Shannon Jr. and/or Rob Dillingham to do the same this season for the Wolves to enter another tier. They, too, have either been injured or ineffective. Neither team has even gained much information about their young players (at least not information they cared to hear), perhaps the most frustrating thing of all.
- The Wolves have still had a reasonably good season so far (compared particularly to the Vikings) because their struggling young players were complementary pieces while McCarthy is a main character. But the lack of development from those young players, combined with Mike Conley’s age catching up to him, have given the Wolves a perilously thin rotation. Hine argued that it is basically six players in his most recent newsletter.
- OK, so just go get an infusion of talent before next week’s NBA trade deadline. Well ... the Wolves don’t have much space under the luxury tax “second apron” ... nor do they have many draft assets to trade ... nor is their much benefit to a major move midyear involving current rotation players.
- Hine’s message on the podcast: The Wolves might make a low-leverage fringe move in hopes of adding someone who steps into a top-seven or top-eight role (think Monte Morris in 2024). Short of that, they need to hope Shannon returns from his left foot injury to give them the consistent spark they thought he would provide at the year.
- All of that is a long way of saying this: Sorry, Wolves fans. This team probably is what it is. No cavalry is coming to save the day. On the bright side, the Wolves’ top six players are capable of carrying them to a playoff series win. On the negative side, that might be the ceiling this year.
- Hine and I also talked about the emotional toll of what is going on in Minneapolis and how it contributed to the atmosphere (and ultimately a lopsided Wolves loss) on Sunday at Target Center.
- The Gophers football schedule is out, and one of these days I will remember to stop putting Indiana in the “should win” category. Sorry, but a decades-old habit is hard to break. The Gophers play the defending college football champions on Halloween in Indiana.
- It was just 1 of 82 against a team the Wild are now an absurd 17-0-1 against in their last 18 games, but Tuesday’s rally for a 4-3 shootout win over Chicago felt important for the team’s standing and for goalie Jesper Wallstedt’s confidence.
- Bill Belichick is deeply unpopular with some media members. And yet it is still shocking that he wasn’t chosen for the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first chance.
- La Velle E. Neal III and I will talk about Belichick, the Vikings and the Twins on Thursday’s podcast.
