Who Are The Minnesota Timberwolves: What The First Five Games Tell Us

The Minnesota Timberwolves find themselves with a 3-2 record through the first five games of the NBA season, including wins over Eastern Conference playoff teams in the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Toronto Raptors, while suffering an overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers and falling short against the Golden State Warriors in their last contest due to a 44-point outburst from Stephen Curry. The Timberwolves are featuring a different look with a new roster featuring LaMelo Ball at point guard after shipping out Julius Randle in the off-season. With the early returns of the new roster still uncertain, the big question is: “Who are the Minnesota Timberwolves?”

It’s been a battle-tested season for the Wolves early. Facing the new-look Heat with Giannis Antetokounmpo to open the season was a performance for the ages, filled with optimism to see how Ball would impact an already dynamic offense. The Wolves did not disappoint as superstar guard Anthony Edwards dropped in a whopping 45 points on 55.2 percent shooting from the floor and a scorching 52.9 percent from beyond the arc on 17 attempts. He complemented that with 10 rebounds and two steals with the team’s second-best plus-minus at +25.

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LaMelo Ball helped play spoiler against the Heat as well in his 28 minutes, pouring in an efficient 21 points while hitting five of his 13 attempts from deep alongside six assists to take down the Heat 131-106.

The next two games followed a similar path as the Wolves dominated the Magic on the road in Orlando, defeating them by 22 points, and then crushed the Raptors at home in Minneapolis (albeit without Kawhi) by 23 and handcuffed Scottie Barnes to an abysmal 0-12 shooting night.

They followed those performances with a disappointing overtime loss to the Cavs, largely in part due to a lackluster performance from Rudy Gobert, and a loss to the Golden State Warriors due to a slow start and Curry doing Curry things and Edwards being out due to a lingering right knee injury. The Timberwolves have shown they are capable of high-level offensive outbursts and stifling defensive performances. How have they gotten…

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Publish date : 2026-10-31 12:00:00

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