The Timberwolves appear poised to compete in a Western Conference loaded with quality teams that are coming off their first conference finals appearance since the 2004 season.
Anthony Edwards is a rising superstar coming off a gold medal with Team USA. The rest of the starters around him — Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Jaden McDaniels and Karl-Anthony Towns — are all back. Key backups Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker are also back, and the Wolves added two first-round picks in Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. and also signed defensive end Joe Ingles in free agency to fill the void left by Kyle Anderson.
There are certainly plenty of reasons to be excited about the Wolves heading into the 2024-25 season, but they also have no shortage of competition in a truly brutal Western Conference.
Here’s a look at what we believe pose the five biggest threats to western wolves:
The Grizzlies are coming off a terrible season in which they finished 27-55, but they played most of the season without star guard Ja Morant, who underwent shoulder surgery during the season. Morant, 25, will be back this year and he will dramatically change the Grizzlies’ outlook.
Prior to last year, the Grizzlies had made the playoffs the previous three seasons and had back-to-back 50-win seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23. They notably eliminated the Timberwolves from the playoffs in their Western Conference first-round series in 2021-22. While the Wolves are a much different team than they were back then, the Grizzlies could still make another attempt.
In addition to Morant, the Grizzlies have a pair of standout defensive backs in Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart, a dynamic power forward in Jaren Jackson Jr. and they recently drafted Purdue’s Zach Edey, who is 7-foot-4 and was the most dominant player in college basketball last year.
If the Wolves and Grizzlies were to meet again in the playoffs in 2024-25, the Wolves would almost certainly be favored and should come out of that series with a win. But Morant’s return makes the Grizzlies a very interesting team that could make some noise this year.
The Timberwolves had no problem defeating the Suns in the playoffs this year, sweeping them in the first round. While there’s no reason to believe the Wolves couldn’t beat them again, the Suns have improved significantly thanks to the addition of one player: former Wolves point guard Tyus Jones.
Jones, a native of Apple Valley, Minnesota, gives the Suns exactly what they lacked last year: a true, capable point guard. Jones is consistently among the league leaders in assists-to-turnovers ratios, and he is coming off a career-best season in which he averaged career-highs in points (12.0), assists (7.3), rebounds (2.7), field goal percentage (48.9%) and three-point percentage (41.4%).
The Suns will also be able to count on their star trio of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, the latter two of whom are teammates with Edwards on Team USA. While that trio didn’t gel well in their first season together last year, the addition of Jones will reinvigorate the team’s ball movement.
The Wolves were also able to take down the Nuggets in the playoffs last season, but Denver is a team that will always be a threat as long as they have Nikola Jokic on their roster. Jokic is a three-time and reigning MVP and makes plays that no one else can, especially at the center position.
That being said, the Nuggets have suffered a number of setbacks this offseason. They lost starting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency, and their first-round pick, DaRon Holmes II, underwent what is likely season-ending Achilles surgery this summer. They signed Russell Westbrook in free agency, but they certainly don’t appear to be an improved team from last season.
Still, they retain Michael Porter Jr., Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon, and again, they still have Jokic, which will still make the Nuggets a tough team to play against.
Wolves fans certainly haven’t forgotten which team eliminated them from the playoffs last season. Their magical run ended in the Western Conference Finals at the hands of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
These two proved the doubters wrong and meshed very well together this past season. They also signed Klay Thompson as a free agent, which solves one of their biggest problems: not having enough shooting around Doncic and Irving, who really carried the load for the Mavs last postseason.
The idea of having a lockdown shooter like Thompson around Doncic and Irving makes Dallas extremely difficult, if not impossible, to defend, especially for a team like the Wolves that has a pair of 7-footers in the starting lineup in addition to a center as their top reserve.
The Thunder pulled off a surprise win over the Western Conference last season, despite having an incredibly young team. They return four of their five young starting players from last season (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort and Chet Holmgren), and their fifth starter, Josh Giddey, whom they traded for Alex Caruso, a veteran who arguably fits the team better.
The Thunder also made one of the biggest moves of the offseason by signing center Isaiah Hartenstein, who averaged 7.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks last season for the New York Knicks. Hartenstein was a primary starter last season for New York, but could come off the bench for the Thunder. Hartenstein gives OKC a better ability to defend the Wolves’ two-big approach.
With last season’s MVP runner-up, a young and dynamic team and reigning Coach of the Year Mike Daigneault, the Thunder appear to be the Wolves’ biggest competitor, not just for this upcoming season, but for years to come. Don’t be surprised if the two teams are in a perpetual playoff battle.
