From France to the NBA, Timberwolves rookie center Joan Beringer adjusts to Minnesota

For the first time in his life, Timberwolves center Joan Beringer is learning how to speak English.

The 19-year-old rookie is taking online classes. He is even learning how to drive as he adjusts to life in America after growing up in France and playing professionally in Slovenia last year.

Beringer, selected with the 17th overall pick in June’s NBA draft, said he is getting better at understanding his coaches and his teammates. He is also able to conduct interviews in English.

But when he arrived with the Wolves this summer, there was one teammate who really tested his English proficiency — the fast-talking, slang-dropping Anthony Edwards.

“Ant — when he speaks English, honestly I don’t really understand everything, but I try,” Beringer said. “I get to understand him more and more … but words I never heard. His vocabulary is like a dictionary. I really learn everything. Every word he says is a new word for me.”

There’s a lot that’s new for Beringer as he adjusts to life in the NBA and America. That’s true for all international prospects, but especially in Beringer’s case, since he was a soccer player who converted to basketball in his teens.

Overcoming the language barrier has been a significant step in Beringer’s development during this critical time. A few months into the season, everyone has found a rhythm making Beringer feel included and making sure the instructions they’re giving him are getting through, with Beringer working every day to improve his English and get up to speed.

Before every game, the Wolves locker room is open for the media to come in and talk to players, typically in an off-the-record fashion. Players are coming in and out of the room as they go through on-the-court warmups or off-court treatment and training.

Some eat pregame meals at their locker, and if you walk in during that time, you are likely to find the 6-11 Beringer and countryman Rudy Gobert, a 7-footer, sitting next to each other, sometimes eating the same kind of acai bowl.

They will speak in French, and it’s one of the few times Beringer can speak in his native language. The Wolves also have assistant coach Max Lefevre and assistant video coordinator Jonathan Mesmacque who can speak French.

“Every day I try to understand when everybody just speaks English, so when I’m with Rudy, Max or Jon, those moments I can a little bit rest my mind,” Beringer said.

Lefevre and Mesmacque play an important role in practices for Beringer, who primarily works with Wolves assistant Kevin Hanson. Hanson, who joined the staff in 2019, has worked under head coaches Ryan Saunders and Chris Finch, and has overseen the development of the team’s big men, like Gobert, Naz Reid and now Beringer.

“Basically you got to slow it down and speak in terms that you know that they’re gonna understand,” Hanson said.

When doing individual work with Beringer, Hanson said he will sometimes “just see the glaze in his eyes,” and he will get Lefevre or Mesmacque to help translate a point.

“You can see when he’s not processing something, and you’re able to slow down,” Hanson said.

Beringer has played in nine games this season, mostly in garbage time, and is 8-for-11 from the floor. He will do his developing in practice, and with the G League Iowa Wolves at some points of the season.

The ultimate test for Beringer is during five-on-five drills with the team, when he has to absorb coaches yelling things out or communicating with teammates. These have tended be the most challenging situations.

Hanson said Beringer has an advantage of playing center, where the terminology isn’t complicated and Beringer can learn the responsibilities of the position easier than if he was a wing or a guard.

“Basically, [on defense] he’s gonna be a drop coverage or he’s gonna be in a switch,” Hanson said. “There’s not a whole lot on a day-to-day basis that changes for him as far as what he has to do. And he’s done a pretty good job of picking up the actual offense. He can hear what a play call is and pick that up.”

Wolves General Manager Matt Lloyd said shortly after the team drafted Beringer, they were still communicating with him on WhatsApp instead of texting because Beringer had not gotten an American phone number. They eventually fixed that. The Wolves have been cognizant of making Beringer’s transition to the NBA as smooth as possible.

“It was our responsibility and remains our responsibility to make sure that he’s OK,” Lloyd said.

This includes helping Beringer get his driver’s license. This job has become one of the tasks for front office assistant Dell Demps, who has taken Beringer for driving lessons around the parking lots of Minneapolis.

When Beringer was playing in Slovenia, he couldn’t get his license because the material he needed to study was in Slovenian. While Minnesota doesn’t have an instruction manual in French, he said, he’s getting along OK studying the English book.

“It’s not really hard, I have a good feeling with this, so just very happy and very excited to get my license, learn to drive,” Beringer said.

Although after a recent snowstorm over Thanksgiving weekend, Beringer said he and Demps didn’t get out to practice driving in the snow. Small steps.

Lloyd said the team has seen Beringer make great progress in both his on-court development and overcoming the language barrier.

“It does affect things,” Lloyd said. “But that impact and effect has become so marginalized, and it was the interpretation of these technical things he just didn’t have much awareness of or experience or exposure to.”

“We have the luxury of helping him develop those habits himself,” Lloyd said. “He’s really a unique … character in the NBA because he doesn’t have bad habits. He hasn’t really been exposed to anything other than just hard work and incremental gains.”

Added Hanson: “Figuring out what he’s going to be is the most exciting thing, because we don’t know at this point.”

Just as there’s a lot for Beringer to learn about speaking English and life in the NBA, there’s still a lot for the Wolves to learn about one of their brightest prospects.