Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: 2K League team, James Nunnally interview

The Minnesota Timberwolves will be one of four NBA teams to launch an NBA 2K League team in 2019. Plus, a question-and-answer session with new Wolves wing James Nunnally.

As the NBA 2K League continues to grow, the Minnesota Timberwolves will get in on the action in the upcoming season.

In last year’s inaugural season of the NBA 2K League, 17 teams participated. That meant that 102 of the best 2K players in the world participated. There were six players per NBA team, and each player drafted one current NBA player to be part of their 2K team.

Now, for the 2019 season, the NBA 2K League has added four teams: the Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and Timberwolves.

The team names and logos have yet to be released, but we’ll be sure to pass that along here at Dunking With Wolves with reaction as soon as they become available.

Elsewhere, Timberwolves.com’s Kyle Ratke sat down for an interview with the newest Timberwolf, James Nunnally.

The Wolves signed Nunnally during the first week of August. Here’s what I wrote about the addition with an excerpt below.

"In two years with Fenerbahce, Nunnally averaged 7.3 points in 19.2 minutes per game and shot an astonishing 50.6 percent on 3-point attempts, including 55.4 percent last season on 2.4 attempts per game.…The breakdown of minutes between Rose, the rookie Okogie, and newcomer Nunnally will be intriguing to say the least. Assuming Jones continues to get all of the backup point guard minutes and Rose is playing off the ball, there will only be a handful of minutes available behind Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler."

Nunnally is a sharpshooter and should be able to play enough defense to stick in Tom Thibodeau’s rotation, although it remains to be seen what his exact role will be.

It’s a short read, so please be sure to follow the above link and read the interview in its entirety, but I did want to focus on a couple of important exchanges below. First, regarding his decision to sign with Minnesota.

"KR: What was the reason behind signing with the Wolves? There were obviously some other teams who were interested as well.JN: I felt like this was a great fit and learning from a defensive-minded coach, a rising team in the West. They had some ups and downs last year, a couple of injuries. I feel like they could have been higher seeded. I feel like a picked a good place. The need for outside shooting kind of led us to each other."

Fantastic. Nunnally’s analysis is spot-on, and it’s clear that defense matters to him. It also means that the Wolves were actively seeking outside shooting, as if the additions of Anthony Tolliver, who shot 42.6 percent from deep last year with Detroit, and Nunnally, who shot 55.4 percent on threes last year in Euroleague, didn’t tell us that.

And now, on his role according to Coach Thibs.

"KR: Have you talked with Coach Thibodeau about what your role could possibly be?JN: Yeah, we had a little chat. I know what my role is going to be. It’s going to be 3-and-D and just try to be a spark anywhere I can be and do something that’s not being done."

Not a surprise here, although self-identifying as a “3-and-D” guy is a positive sign.

It will be a lot of fun to see how the new additions fit in with the Wolves and how they’re used in the rotation — especially Nunnally and first-round pick Josh Okogie. Remember, Derrick Rose is back, too, and Thibodeau has continuously stated that Rose can play off the ball and won’t necessarily take Tyus Jonse’ minutes at the backup point guard spot.

At any rate, this will be something to watch when training camp begins in just a few weeks and when preseason kicks off in just over a month.