It’s been an up-and-down season for the Minnesota Timberwolves, marked by stretches of fantastic play and runs of head-scratching stinkers. In some ways, this rollercoaster season Minny has been having proves that chemistry matters just as much as trotting out players who can put up numbers. And the Wolves have several of the latter, as you will see next.
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Your Main Man: Anthony Edwards
Anthony Edwards isn’t just the face of the Wolves. He is also one of the emerging faces of the NBA. So, it’s no surprise he’s at this position.
The numbers—26.1 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.2 SPG—back it up. He can also go stretches where he turns it up, like a recent 10-game stretch when he bumped his averages up to 30.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 5.3 assists. And Edwards gives this vibe that he can ramp up his production even more when he wants to, like when the Wolves need him to be the superstar that he is. That’s the aggressive, assertive Ant, and it hasn’t always been that way for the 23-year-old high-flyer.
Still, those numbers are all right.
Surefire Studs: Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert
Basketball-wise, Wolves fans might rather have Karl-Anthony Towns over Julius Randle, as the latter’s fit in Minnesota has been tenuous at best. Regardless, he’s the Wolves’ second-best player, and his stat line of 19.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists brings some fantasy value. All things considered, Randle is having a down year so far, and there’s a chance he can get back to being a 20-10 guy again.
Rudy Gobert’s fantasy value, on the other hand, has more to do with his rebounding and blocks. These are areas where the French man brings the most production as he hauls down 10.4 boards and records 1.5 denials a game. Gobert is also averaging 10.2 points and 1.7 assists. The points, rebounds, and blocks are all down for the Stifle Tower, so maybe we can hold out hope he bumps those numbers up.
Low Cost, High Value Picks: Donte DiVincenzo, Jaden McDaniels
Donte DiVincenzo came over as part of the trade Anthony-for-Randle trade and has been quite the pickup for the Wolves, providing them a shooter and hardnosed defender. Fantasy-wise, DiVincenzo translates nicely as a safe pick for later rounds with per-game norms of 11.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.2 steals. There’ll be games, too, when he gets hot and drops 20–25 points. In his first two years, Jaden McDaniels’ on-court value hasn’t translated into the fantasy world. But over the past three seasons, he has put up nice numbers to warrant draft attention as a low-cost, potentially high-value pick. This is true this season, too, as McDaniels is putting up 10.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.8 block.
