Can the Minnesota Timberwolves make it to the NBA Finals?
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been on the cusp of the NBA Finals in recent seasons, making the Western Conference Finals in 2024 and 2025, and losing the eventual NBA Finalist in the second round in 2026.
Despite their success, they have yet to get over the hump, and haven't always looked competitive against the teams that did make it to the Finals.
This offseason, they made big changes to their team, trading away starter Julius Randle in a salary dump and trading top bench player Naz Reid for LaMelo Ball.
The addition of LaMelo, along with the hopefully growth of Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, does provide optimism for Timberwolves fans.
The Biggest Factor In Making The Finals
It's simple, but even head coach Chris Finch knows, it's health.
No team makes it to the Finals without having good health for the top players, or at least enough health to play through injuries.
Minnesota had a banged-up Anthony Edwards in the second round and no Donte DiVincenzo. That dramatically changed how they played against the San Antonio Spurs, who were 100% the entire series.
If the Spurs are healthy and can catch a team that might not be at 100%, they can pull off the upset.
Catching A Break
Along with catching a potential break with health, they probably need to catch a break in the bracket. The last two seasons have shown that they aren't as good as the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, two teams returning their core pieces that made the Finals in the past two seasons.
The West runs through them, and the Timberwolves will likely have to beat at least one of them to make the Finals. Somehow avoiding both would be an ideal scenario, but they would need some help in the regular season to get a top-two seed, or they would need to hope they end up on the same side of the bracket somehow.
Frontcourt Improvements
The team isn't able to control health or how other teams play, but they can add to their frontcourt to make improvements.
As it stands, they are going into the season with Trey Lyles, Joan Beringer, Mouhamadou Gueye, and Rudy Gobert as their frontcourt options.
Lyles was overseas last season, Beringer has played 40 career games, Gueye has played 13 career games, and Gobert has been outplayed in matchups against the Thunder and Spurs.
As good as Edwards, Ball, McDaniels, and Ayo Dosunmu could be in the backcourt, it's not going to matter if their frontcourt gets beaten on every possession or can't contribute offensively.
Chemistry
Recent years have shown us that teams that make massive offseason changes don't typically make a Finals run. The last five champions had their core pieces together for at least full playoff run before their championship season.
This group hasn't played a single game together, though the pieces make sense on paper.
They'll have to find chemistry, and find it fast, if they want to get over the hump.
