Souhan: Timberwolves’ early schedule is a reminder of the NBA’s magic

This week’s Timberwolves schedule could have been improved only by a visit from the Knicks, with Karl-Anthony Towns and Tom Thibodeau standing midcourt at Target Center, insulting hot dish and fleece.

If you were trying to explain to a non-sports fan why the NBA is so popular, and you didn’t want to wait until the playoffs to do so, you could point to this eight-day stretch:

Saturday: Wolves win their home opener in front of a crowd that acted like their team was still in the playoffs.

Tuesday: The Mavericks arrive in town so Luka Doncic can profanely remind the Wolves of who beat them in the Western Conference Finals.

Friday: The Nuggets arrive in town to remind the Wolves of the best moment in franchise history — their comeback Game 7 win in Denver in May.

Saturday: The Wolves play in San Antonio against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.

Packed arenas. An ambitious and likable home team. Vivid reminders of the pleasures and pains of competing deep into the playoffs. And four of the best players in the world, hailing from four different countries.

The Wolves’ rising superstar, Anthony Edwards, is from Georgia. Doncic, the magician, is from Slovenia. The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, probably still the world’s best player, is from Serbia. Wembanyama, probably the next player to be called best in the world, is from France.

All are under 30. Their average age is 24.

The NBA is international, precocious and stuffed with talent.

The new cliché regarding outstanding players is “generational talent.” How can we describe any of these players as “generational” if a new one arrives every year or two?

All four of these players compete in the Western Conference, along with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Steph Curry and Domantas Sabonis.

That’s why, when asked about this week’s challenges, shortly after opening the season in Los Angeles against the Lakers, Wolves coach Chris Finch said, “`We talked about the honor of playing on opening night with the team. That means there’s a lot of expectation and excitement around your team. When you’re competing for the things we’re trying to compete for, and you’re going to be on TV as much as you are, you’re going to play a lot of these games as they’re dictated to you, so you’ve got to play them when they come.

“But the Western Conference is going to be like this every night.”

Tuesday, the Wolves will see Doncic for the first time since he was cursing courtside fans as he helped eliminate the Wolves in Game 5 at Target Center.

“`You know we’re looking forward to it,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said. “We understand what happened the last time we saw him. You know how we felt. You never want to see anybody celebrating on your home court, and that’s our last memory. So we’ll be ready to go.”

Friday, the Nuggets will provide a different reminder — that earning the most impressive victory in franchise history can leave a team flat, once that celebration subsides.

The Wolves’ series victory over Denver felt like a championship bout, but left the Wolves only halfway to their goal of a championship.

“It feels like it goes fast, but also, each playoff series is like a lifetime,” center Rudy Gobert said. “The Denver series, for myself, so many things happened in a small amount of time. It’s great. We are so in the moment that we can lose track of time, but this is what we live for as basketball players and competitors. Everything you do has more impact on your career, your legacy, the things you’re going to leave behind. So it’s fun. It’s what we live for.”

Gobert might have the most uniquely challenging week. Tuesday, he’ll face the young and bouncy Dereck Lively II, who gave him so much trouble last spring. Friday, he’ll face Jokic, whose team might be diminished but who remains in the prime of an astonishing career. Saturday, he’ll face “Wemby,” the 7-4, three-point shooting wunderkind.

Shakespeare wrote “all the world’s a stage.” This week, all the world will fill the Timberwolves’ stage.