Minnesota Timberwolves to play in Las Vegas Summer League semifinal

The Minnesota Timberwolves remained undefeated at Las Vegas Summer League on Saturday night and will face the Brooklyn Nets in the semifinal on Sunday evening.

Entering Las Vegas Summer League tournament play on Saturday, the Minnesota Timberwolves were the No. 3 seed and one of three undefeated teams.

After dominating the No. 6 seed Dallas Mavericks on Saturday evening, the Wolves emerged as the only undefeated team and are advancing to the semifinal on Sunday at 7 p.m. CT against the Brooklyn Nets.

This time, the Wolves were led by wing Kelan Martin, who had a couple of impressive appearances earlier in Summer League and has been solid throughout the Wolves’ time in Vegas. On Saturday night, however, Martin was the best player on the floor.

In case you haven’t seen much of the 5-0 Summer Wolves to this point, Martin is a 6-foot-7 wing with a 7-foot wingspan who spent last year playing overseas. He was a four-year player at Butler and averaged 21.2 points per game as a senior for Bulldogs in 2017-18.

Martin isn’t known as a sharpshooter; he shot just 34.8 percent on 3-point attempts in college. But he’s been solid thus far in Las Vegas and drained five of his nine attempts from deep on Saturday night against the Summer Mavs. Overall, Martin finished with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and made both of his free throw attempts. He also chipped in five assists and turned the ball over just one time in 20 minutes.

The Wolves have quite a few wings on their roster already, but Martin appears to be a legitimate candidate for a training camp invitation at the very least.

There’s a real chance that Martin joins the starting lineup of the Summer Wolves on Sunday, too, as Josh Okogi left the game with an ankle/shin injury after playing just 13 minutes.

Joining Martin in double figures was Barry Brown Jr. (14 points), who has also been impressive during Summer League, while Mitch Creek, Naz Reid, and Jordan Murphy all put up 12 points. Murphy and Creek tied for the team lead with six rebounds apiece.

Keita Bates-Diop struggled, playing just 17 minutes and shooting 1-of-7 from the floor.

Now, the Wolves are one step away from the Las Vegas Summer League championship game. They’ll take on the Brooklyn Nets in the semis. Brooklyn is led by third-year player Jarrett Allen, who dropped 30 points in their quarterfinal win on Saturday, and last year’s first-round pick Dzanan Musa.

We’ll be back after the game with reaction as the Wolves will hopefully be advancing to the championship game.