Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 things to watch for in preseason opener vs. Suns

The Minnesota Timberwolves’ preseason schedule kicks off on Tuesday night with a showdown against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve made it.

Well, sort of. It’s Minnesota Timberwolves basketball, but it’s preseason basketball, and it also isn’t on television or radio.

But don’t let that get you down. It’s still officially basketball season, and Karl-Anthony Towns, Robert Covington, and others are about to take the court and take on an actual opponent at 9 p.m. CT on Tuesday night.

And not just any opponent, but the Phoenix Suns, who are expected to start two old friends in Ricky Rubio and Dario Saric. While we’re not going to pretend that Tuesday’s preseason tilt will give us the answer to the question “who won the Jarret Culver-for-Dario Saric trade”, that doesn’t mean we can’t try.

Saric, who came to Minnesota in mid-November last year in the trade that sent Jimmy Butler to Philadelphia, will likely start for the Suns. He was traded in the draft night deal that brought the No. 6 pick to the Wolves.

The Suns won only 19 games last season but have remade their roster, albeit in rather curious fashion. This team will be much better, with a starting lineup that consists of legitimate NBA starters in Rubio, Saric, and Devin Booker, not to mention exciting second-year big man and last year’s No. 1-overall pick Deandre Ayton.

Let’s take a quick spin through three things to watch for against the Suns.

1. Who is the Wolves’ fifth starter?

To be clear, the starting five that the Timberwolves trot-out on Tuesday night in Phoenix is not necessarily the starting five that we’ll see on opening night Oct. 23 in Brooklyn.

But while we fully expect to see Jeff Teague, Andrew Wiggins, Covington, and Towns, we don’t know who the fifth starter will be on Tuesday.

We do know that it won’t be Jordan Bell, who will be out this week due to a strained calf. The obvious candidates are: Josh Okogie, last year’s first-round pick and a starter in 52 games last season, Jarrett Culver, this year’s first-round pick, and Noah Vonleh, a five-year pro who started 57 games last year for the New York Knicks.

The guess here is that it’s Culver, with Covington slotting in at the 4 and the rookie joining Wiggins on the wing.

Again, that doesn’t mean that it’s a permanent decision, but it might still tip Ryan Saunders’ hand as to what his future plans might be.