2025–26 Timberwolves Season Recap & Player Report Cards

Steve Hartman returns to the Splash City Basketball Podcast to break down the Minnesota Timberwolves' 2025–26 regular season. After finishing with a record of 49-33—the exact same record as the previous season—the Wolves are heading to the "Mile High City" to face the Denver Nuggets for the third time in four years.

In this episode, Steve explores whether the team is plateauing or simply pacing itself for the postseason. He hands out final grades for the team and individual players, including:

• Overall Season Grade: C+.
• Anthony Edwards: C+. While 3rd in the league in scoring and elite in the clutch, his defensive intensity showed a noticeable drop-off.
• Jaden McDaniels: B. Despite a late-season tail-off, his 41% shooting from deep was a major bright spot.
• The Roster Shake-up: Grades for the mid-season acquisition of Ayo Dosunmu (B+) and the veteran stabilizing presence of Kyle "SlowMo" Anderson (B-).
• Veteran Watch: Analysis of Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert as they battle the effects of "Father Time" heading into a physical playoff series.

The discussion also dives into the team's statistical identity, finishing 8th in defensive rating and 10th in offensive rating. Steve breaks down why health should have been the Wolves' biggest advantage this year, losing the second-fewest "wins" to injury in the league.

Finally, we preview the first-round matchup against Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets. Can Anthony Edwards find his defensive gear in time for the playoffs? 

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Bag in that bag in that bag again. Whoa, whoa. Welcome to the Splash City basketball podcast. I am your host, Steve Hartman. This podcast, we are breaking down the Timberwolves season. 2025-2026 season is in the books. Playoff opponent is known. We are heading to Denver, the mile high city, to take on the Nuggets for the third time in the last four postseasons. First, we got to finish uh recapping what happened to this season. Was it a success? Was it a failure? Is it somewhere in between? How do you feel about the Timberwolves uh going into the playoffs? And I'm gonna hand out my grades both on the season, but also to individual players as we look back at the 49 and 33 Timberwolves record. Um, I know it's been a minute since we've done a podcast. March madness ended. Uh I was going fast and furious, needed a break, needed some time off, and took that time to just kind of chill, relax, and get ready for the Timberwolves playoff run here in Minnesota. And also, you know, we started the AAU basketball. So doing some coaching there and the the grind don't stop. We are back at it. We are uh one tournament in the books, lots to lots to learn from. Excited to uh continue coaching, coaching little guys' basketball there. But um on the Timberwolves front, we'll get uh a full look at the upcoming series against the Nuggets here in a couple days. But first, I want to give my recap of the season out. So let's get into it. All right, so like I said, Timberwolves finished the season 49 and 33, same record as last year. Um, so when you think about that, they were a sixth seed last year. They take on the Lakers, who were more healthy last year than they are this year. Wolves take them out 4-1, take out the wounded warriors, and then uh get pretty much taken care of by the Thunder last season. This year they get the nuggets in the first round, which will be interesting. And again, we'll talk more about that later. But you know, when we look back at this Timberwolves era, right? And you know, two years ago, you had the Towns team, you had Nikhil Alexander Walker. Um, Towns gets traded, and of course, you bring in Julius Randle and Dante DiVincenzo. So two years ago, 56 and 26, the last two years, 49-33, of course, back-to-back runs to the Western Conference Finals. Um, do you do are we plateauing is kind of the the sense you know you get. Um, I don't really necessarily look at it that way. The Wolves were pretty healthy throughout this season. They had a few games missed, but uh, I think depending on whether you're looking at minutes or or wind potential, they were either second or third fewest in the league. And so they really didn't have to battle through injuries this year. Um, they never really got in a groove, I would say. Last year, you know, they kind of were struck scuffling and they hit that January, February run, and then they really turned a corner and went into the playoffs playing well. This year, can't really say that they were a little banged up. Anthony Edwards took some time off, Jaden McDaniels was was out for a few games. Uh Nas has had the shoulder issue. So just uh from that standpoint, much different year compared to last year, I think, as you're entering the playoffs, even though the record was the same. When we did the NBA preview show way back in October, uh we were looking at over-unders, and the line set for the Wolves was 49 and a half. So if you uh paid attention to that, uh Vegas is pretty spot on. Uh they come in slightly below at 49. But um, you know, whether or not they achieved, overachieved, underachieved, uh failure, success, that kind of thing, um, you know, the Western Conference is just really good. Um, you see that teams jumped up, the Spurs jumped up, Rockets fell back a little bit. I think the Nuggets are still the second best team in the West. And so you got, you know, four, five, even like probably six, with including the Wolves, really quality teams in the Western Conference. Um, and so that was, you know, it's always going to be a slog to get in there. I think the goal the Timberwolves seem to have in mind is avoid the play-in, get that week off, and now come in ready to go. Um, you hate to see kind of this like flip the switch type of approach, but the wolves, um, to their credit, the last two postseasons have kind of turned it on when they needed to. Um, there's some differences this year in that respect. Um, you know, there were some individuals that I think took step back, took a step back in terms of production. Um, you know, two of the main cogs from two years ago, Rudy and Mike, both looked older. Mike's significantly uh to the point where, you know, almost unplayable in meaningful games. We'll get to to him later. You know, there's maybe some signs. Can he make some shots when he's in the game? That's the biggest thing with him at this point in his career. Um, but just overall, I don't know. I my grade for the season is a C plus. I'm going C plus because I think the the feeling was that you had uh going into the year, the players talked about it, the coaches talked about it, the continuity. They're running it back, they felt good about their group, they lose Nikhil Alexander Walker. That was their main um offseason uh departure. And um, if you know, you go into the season thinking like, hey, let's set the tone. Are we one of the elite teams? Are we in that conversation with the Thunder and the Nuggets and the Rockets and the Lakers? And by all accounts, they're not in that conversation right now. So they're a few games back of the Nuggets and the Rockets, um, quite a ways back from the Spurs and the Thunder, though. Um, so they still and the Thunder didn't have uh a lot of their players. I think they missed the fourth most games of all NBA teams, uh, players missing games. So the fact that they did that and still ended up with their best record in the NBA is astonishing. Um, but going back to the Wolves, C, um, you know, it's it wasn't awful by any means. You're making the playoffs, you have a chance to make another run, albeit much tougher than last year. But um, you know, we don't I don't want to get to the point again, like we were with the KG era of like getting to the playoffs isn't good enough because we know what the other side of that coin feels like. Um, I think the bigger question is how do we feel if we lose round one versus the Nuggets versus last year? So Western Conference finals last year, but you played a Lakers team that wasn't equipped to beat you, and then a wounded Warriors team, um, no Steph Curry, that's not much of a series either. So they weren't even really tested until the Thunder series, and we saw how that went. But this year, I think losing to Denver would be no shame. I think Denver is one of the three or four best teams in the NBA. Um, they have home court, they have the best player in the world, and um I think the Nuggets are deeper than they were last year. So I I think this is gonna be a tough series. I think the Wolves can win it. But do we go back to now we went Western Conference Final two years in a row, we're out in the first round this year. Is it fire finch? Is it blow it up? I mean, obviously there's gonna be changes in the offseason, but I just don't think it's as simple as that because the quality of opponent you're gonna see in round one this year is as good as any you saw last year. Uh the don't don't forget the Nuggets pushed that Thunder team to seven games that we lost to in five. So um I think regardless of how this series goes, the season, uh, this chemistry, the roster needs a little bit of a makeover, needs a little bit of an upgrade. Um, and you know, overall, it's a C for me. The defense uh slips again, they get down to eighth in defensive rating, offensive rating is tenth. So they're they're top ten in both offensive and defensive rating. Um, it's tough because I uh you think of the Wolves two years ago and how dominant that team was defensively, and they just the one two there's been two major changes. One, Carl Anthony Towns provided you ability to guard uh Jokic specifically, but you could guard some unique ways with Rudy and Towns together. Towns was huge in that playoff run against the Suns. He guarded KD Nuggets, he guarded Jokic. Um, that was huge. Nikhil Alexander Walker being gone was a huge part of defensive rating, um, slipping a little bit. I do think Io, though not as good defensively as Nikhil, has a lot of similarities in his game. Um, and I like the way he's pushing the pace on offense. So I do think there's, you know, maybe a drop-off there, but um could be could be paying off on the offensive end a little bit as well. So um otherwise, I think the other big drop-off defensively is Anthony Edwards. I think two years ago, he was a better defender than he has been this year. Again, I think there's a little bit of uh I don't want to call it sandbagging, but I think Ant got to the playoffs the last two years, and that was kind of the goal. And then you get to the playoffs and you have to grind through these series, and he didn't have much left in the tank. And I, you know, whether it's right or wrong, I do think there's something to having some time off, getting healthy, and you know, maybe just pacing himself throughout the season. Are we gonna see that full defensive effort? Can he just turn it on? Is he one of those guys? Um, I don't know. I don't want to believe that that's really how it goes because I don't you think of the greats, you think of Michael Jordan, you think of Kobe, and there wasn't like there would be games where they didn't have it all game, but they would turn it on when they needed to, and defensively they were so good that I just wonder if you can do that. I look at the Thunder and I see no matter who's in the game, no matter November, March, playoffs, their defensive intensity is there. Um it's not perfect all the time, but it's certainly better. And so like that championship pedigree, kind of you either have it or you don't. And I'm starting to start to question the Timberwolves' ability to do that, to hit that, to have that focus that you need. Because yes, the season is long, it's 82 games, you can get complacent, but the playoffs are long too. That's four series, at least 20 some games, right? So you have to have focus and intensity for that entire two period of time. Could you turn it on a game or two and turn it off? Yeah. But in the playoffs, you need to have it on. And so I think it's a bad habit of getting into that uh mode, is what I'm saying. All right, so let's talk about individual players, uh, player grades. Let's start with Anthony Edwards, third in the league in scoring, shot 49% from the field, 40% from three, only played 61 games. Um, but he was one of the best clutch players in the NBA this season, which was a big off-season focus for him. When it came time in the playoffs to get a bucket, end of a shot clock, end of a half, close game. What's your go-to move? What can you get to that you feel confident? Um, he definitely had that this year. Um, his offensive numbers were I mean, they were great, right? Like that was what we were like waiting for. Man, this guy is unbelievable. The problem is, as I talked about earlier, defensively, he slipped. Um my hunch, again, is that he was sick of wearing down in the postseason. I'm not saying he like this injury isn't real, I this is very real, but I do think there is a little bit of I need to be at my best when it matters most. That is how NBA superstars are judged is by the playoffs. Um, nobody will care if the Wolves were the sixth seed and 49 and 33 if they're in the NBA finals. Um, so we'll see how how Ant comes out. Um, I give him a C. Um, maybe that feels low. I just I think I had such high expectations. I think I was expecting this offensive performance with the same level of defensive intensity that we had seen from him two, three years ago, where he was one of the better on-the-ball defenders. He was one of the better point of attack defenders. Um, he was game-changing at times on defense and the defensive end. Um, the Nuggets series two years ago is what is an example of that. So I think that's what my expectations were, right or wrong. Um, and you know, I'd say, again, offensively, great. Defensively, not great. So you get a C. Jaden McDaniels, uh, kind of the I don't know. He early in the year, I'd say even halfway through, three quarters of the way through, it was just like he could he keep up that efficiency he had. He was, you know, one of the leading three-point shooters for much of the year. Tailed off at the end, fatigue, got injured, not sure. Was it just a regression to the mean? He still ends the season shooting 51% from the field, 41% from three. I think we would all take that. Um, about halfway through the year, I believe it was about 45%. So um Jaden, he's another one, though, that I feel like the defensive ability has not ability, I shouldn't say that. His defensive um prowess uh has slipped a little bit. I mean, the last two years, we talked about him as one of the most difficult wing defenders to play against. He's so long, he was guarding everybody from Luca, Luca to Jamal Murray, um, Devin Booker, and um it didn't feel like he was quite as locked in defensively as he had been. So again, you know, maybe that's just a little bit of teams kind of knowing how to combat his length on the perimeter, but um overall, you know, his his drop-off defensively certainly isn't where ants has been, and his offensive improvement is is also very impressive. So I give I give Jaden a B for the season. Um I guess just because he's not in that superstar conversation, the expectations aren't as high. So the fact that he shot over 40% from three to me is really impressive, and he's still out there guarding the top perimeter players for the opposing teams. Um former starter, let's go to Mike Conley. Um, obviously the midseason trade, he gets picked up off waivers. Um, does he have anything left in the tank to give the wolves? Everybody loves him. We don't have to go through that. Um the encouraging sign to me, very small sample size, but in his final four games of the year, he averaged over 10 points a game and shot 12 for 21 from three. I think at this point in his career, that's all the wolves are hoping for, and that's all fans should really hope for. Can he make the open threes? If you put him in the corner, can he knock down a shout shot? Can he hold his own defensively without just absolutely getting cooked and shredded? Um, if he can make open threes, then he becomes a guy you can bring you could bring him in off the bench um for spacing purposes. So we'll see if that's if that's real, if that's something, if he's rested enough and he has a little juice for the playoffs. Um overall, I mean, listen, Father Time comes for all of us. Uh so it's hard to give Mike Connolly much much lower than a C. Um, I think sometimes it's shocking to see how quickly it does go for for athletes, not just basketball players, NFL players. I mean, when it when it's time, it's time and it's Stark. So um he's still obviously on the team because of leadership, because of his wisdom about the game, which can be valuable. You just love to see him contribute, maybe knock down a couple threes on Saturday. Julius Randle. Um you know, I looked at his stats, they aren't that far off from last year. But again, I feel like recency bias and like watching him just play phenomenal in the playoffs against the Lakers and the Warriors, again, not great opponents last year. Uh, but he was able to shoot the three ball. He was, you know, bully balling guys. So this year he's sitting at 31.5% from three, which is really probably the biggest downside from his game this year. But also, this is the fewest rebounds he's had in his career in a season. Um, he only missed three games. The Wolves obviously need him uh if they want to do anything in the playoffs. He's got an interesting matchup in the Nuggets series. And again, um, you know, looking at the totality of the year, not much different than last year in terms of production and statistics, but where I think his the narrative changed on him last year was in the playoffs. And so, can that happen again this year? Sure. Um, there were moments later in the year where it looked like he was starting to get his stroke back and finally kind of get into a rhythm. Um, so we'll see uh what Julius can bring. Um, you know, again, he's getting a little bit older, getting some days off here. Um, we'll be really good. They avoided the play-in, which they had to do just to basically for health purposes. Um, but I give Julius a C grade for the year. Um, again, nothing flashed. It wasn't anything better. He kind of is, I think, what he is at this point in his career. Um, we'll see what what he brings into the playoffs. Dante DiVincenzo, one of the the few guys I actually give uh a B or better to. Uh, Dante got a B from me this year. Um, he, you know, again, his role is what it is. I mean, he is gonna get after you defensively, he's gonna pressure the ball, he rebounds well for a guard. He um when he's in rhythm, he's a good shooter. Uh, when he's forced to take the grenades and uh rushing his shot and things like that, it obviously doesn't look great, and he doesn't provide a whole lot uh offensively other than that. But um I give him a B because I think you know Dante does what we expect him to do. He's reliable. There's not ups and downs to his defensive intensity, there's not really ups and downs to his offensive game, um, other than you know, when you're a volume three-point shooter, you might have games where you go two for ten, and then you might have games where you go six for eight. And that's kind of what if we're judging Dante on strictly um three-point shooting, um, you know, he's he's I think he's solid. I think he he does what we expect him to do. Uh Rudy Gobert, I give a C grade two. Um, same with Mike, like age, I think, is starting to catch up with him. The rim protection isn't as you know, intense, uh, it isn't as formidable as it once was. This this could be um, and I'm not obviously Rudy doesn't listen to this podcast, but I'm not gonna say this is a career-defining series for Rudy, but if you wanted a little um to rub a little bit of stuff in some National Pundits Faces, Shaq, and many Draymond Green and many others, um, this would be the series to do it, right? Um, I know people think that Joker cooks Rudy, and he he does, but he cooks everybody. Um this would be a game there if if Rudy can can show up and really just make life difficult for Joker, that would probably be kind of a a nice bookend to his dominance dominant defensive career. Because let's be honest, with Wemby, defensive player of the year awards are probably done for Rudy. Um, and he's not winning much else in terms of uh any offensive awards. So this playoff series, I think, is really interesting for Rudy's uh career. Uh you know, just as you look at what he's done. Uh four-time defensive player of the year, he's been the anchor for the Wolves in these last three. playoff runs, um, so much communication and uh rotation and and effort and professionalism defensively was credited with to Rudy. So I think this series is interesting for him. Would I be shocked if Joker scores 40 in three games? No. Would I put that all on Rudy and probably not. But um you know if he can if he can do some damage here, just make life difficult for Joker that that's a win and I think would really um you know look look good on his on his all-time resume which is one of the best defensive players in the last how many years so um bones Highland Bones I went I got a B plus for Bones man I love me some Bones um I think he's what the team Wolves fans maybe have always thought Jalen Naw was going to do right like there was guys throughout the years that we thought were going to be that juice up that bench could get you 20 on a given night if he got hot provides a little flair a little excitement and Bones fits all of that um inconsistent but he's a bench player so I'm not gonna worry too much about that um you know if you get an A, you're probably sixth man of the year territory, which which he's not, but uh I think Bones did exactly what we hoped he would do provided exactly what this team needs. Nas Reed, another bench guy I'm gonna give him a B. I know there is some ups and downs but considering how the season started with Nas losing his sister in the fall going through that mental hurdle and difficulty and mourning and then the shoulder injury at the end of the year again he had pretty similar numbers to last year when and the year before um actually his rebounding numbers this year a little bit higher. So um I again I think Nas is what Nas is and like he does that role he makes his shots he um he's again going to be a really important player in this Nuggets series um he's had moments where he defended joke joker okay and so um you know we'll see how how that comes out in the in the playoff series but overall I don't know how you can be too upset with with Nas. I think Nas had um has has had a solid year is it six man of the year award probably not um that gets you an A. But for me a B grade is where I see Nas um other guys here I got um Io DeSumu I I'll talk about in a minute I mean he he was brought in halfway through the year right trade deadline so I'll get to all right let's talk about Iodesumu comes in trade deadline wolves gave up Rob Dillingham and Leonard Miller and some second rounders um immediate impact like I I have really been a big fan of his since he came into the wolves group um I think he provides again like bones some pace and some intensity um I've seen more outlet passes from Rudy to Io pushing the ball and I think that's great for the wolves because we've seen them get bogged down offensively so when you can get easy buckets in transition that's huge. Is he a permanent piece of the wolves? That's a big offseason question we'll talk about um he's only making seven and a half million dollars this year that's his final year of his contract um so if the wolves don't re-sign him and we get a couple months of IoTesumu I don't know that that's gonna feel great but his salary is going to likely at least triple um in the offseason. So can they afford another $20 to $25 million player? We'll see. But again I would love to see him back. I know there's a lot of comparisons with Na and if he's that similar player he's not obviously not quite as good defensively and Na now getting big time minutes with the Hawks is going to probably be the most improved player award winner. So I won't go that far but I think Io does almost as good a job defensively I think he's one of the best perimeter defenders on the team he can make some threes he's shooting 40% plus from three um and he gets to the rim he attacks he's fast he's like a point guard version of Terrence Shannon. So I got a B plus for Io DeSumo uh slow-mo again brought back brought him back as well um veteran IQ stabilized that second unit a little bit I kind of like the again I talked about this uh a couple weeks back but a little more roster flexibility for the Wolves in the playoffs so they can go a little bit bigger with Kyle at the three they can play small with Kyle at the five or or four of course um and he can kind of guard multiple positions he could be one of the defensive keys in this series against the Nuggets so I like I like Kyle I like what he brings to the table I think he's just a winning player in general uh I got I got a B minus for him um and then incompletes for Terrence Shannon injured Jalen Clerk didn't play a lot Joan Barranja I love the future the potential um showing some flashes at times keep him out of foul triple uh have him pick and choose the moments where he's blocking shots I think he'll be great um maybe you know he's 19 right now maybe in two years we're talking about him starting center for the Timberwolves um but just incomplete grades from me on those three because just didn't see enough of them this year. All right so for the third time in four years the Wolves are matching up with the Nuggets in the playoffs so this this is going to have a little bit different vibe because last time there was no towns or there was towns there was no Dante there was no Julius the Nuggets have a much much different team than they had a couple years ago they have more shooting around uh Joker um in that seven game series if you remember Rudy was guarding Aaron Gordon because Aaron Gordon wasn't a great shooter I think he was shooting like 29 30% that season now he's up to uh being a pretty competent shooter so the days of leaving Aaron Gordon alone in the corner are probably gone. So just kind of a different vibe different look um really want to get into this series more later in the week with some guests and we'll talk about uh Nuggets Wolves round three in the last four years but um obviously for the wolves health is a big part of it same with the Nuggets um but as long as Jokic is healthy I think you know him and Murray make that team go you can kind of put whoever around them um you know elite role players gets them to the conference finals maybe the NBA finals average role players get them in the playoffs to maybe second round and um so the key with the wolves is Anthony Edwards health I think um the Nuggets don't really have anybody that can slow him down and they don't have any rim protectors which is always what has bothered ant um when you think about the the the thunder right big rim protectors um a couple years ago against the Mavericks they had gaffed and they had lively uh rim protectors um and so Denver doesn't have that ant gets kind of a free run to the rim if he can get past that first line of defense so it'll be key like if ant is healthy and and himself and willing to play defense wolves have a real shot if um he's less than healthy if he's less than 90% um and not engaged defensively they're gonna have a real problem because Denver is one of the best offensive teams in the NBA probably probably the best offensive player uh uh team Jokic and Murray are two of the most efficient offensive players so if it's a shootout the Wolves are gonna be it's gonna be tough no doubt so lots more to talk about there uh tip off Saturday April 18th at 230 at ball arena in Denver um you know during the regular season it's like wins and we get hung up on oh this bad loss that but all of it comes down to the playoffs um we got back to back western conference finals appearances last year's was I would say pretty soft Western conference finals appearance uh not much to go through last year but this year is gonna be a a real challenge for the Timberwolves or anybody else to be honest um you know there's some really really tough physical talented teams in the top four or five teams in the West and then the Timberwolves at six who are also very capable. So we'll we'll see which you know Timberwolves team shows up um again not ready to declare failure if we lose to the Nuggets not ready to declare uh finals or bust with if we beat the Nuggets but um it's just about the journey it's about the ride the whole season is that way and then you get to the playoffs and it's the same thing. You got to just enjoy it and um should be a great great series I know a lot of fans a lot of media and uh a lot of writers have kind of said this is the series in the first round we'll see if that holds true. I expect nothing less than six or seven games to go between the wolves and the Nuggets all right so that's the show talking wolves recap recap on the season giving out my grades for the wolves and the players as we enter NBA playoff action starting this week we got play in games followed by first round Timberwolves at Nuggets on Saturday haven't seen a lot of action on the gopher side in terms of transfer portal uh Robert Vihola and BJ Omott um did enter their names in the transfer portal so they'll likely be gone but the four main guys who could stay did Bobby Durkin Isaac Osama Grayson Grove and Jalen Crocker Johnson all expected back in Dinkytown. But no no major additions yet so we'll keep an eye on that um some big names in the portal um but it's just the way of college basketball nowadays and uh yeah so that that's the show again um thank you all for listening if you do have time please please like and subscribe Instagram Facebook blue sky youtube subscribe to the podcast apple spotify amazon wherever you listen um appreciate you listening as always this has been the Splash City basketball podcast back in back and then bag again well