The Minnesota Timberwolves have a few core pieces in place. After overhauling their roster during the trade deadline, only two players remain on the roster that were in Minnesota one year ago: Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Okogie.
Josh Okogie is an intriguing player for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He plays incredible defense and has the athleticism and overall talent to eventually become a two-way player. Coming into the draft, Okogie was praised for his two-way ability, more specifically as a 3-and-D type player. He shot 38-plus-percent from three during his two seasons at Georgia Tech, with an FT-success rate that increased during his college tenure.
Despite his college shooting splits, that particular trait has yet to translate to the NBA level. Okogie has proven he can be a starting-caliber wing player, but his ceiling is still much higher than that.
More often than not, the third year in one’s NBA career is usually when the fans and media start to gain an understanding for a given player’s career arc. This was seen with CJ McCollum. It was the same story with D’Angelo Russell and Pascal Siakam.
Now, the pressure is not on Okogie to make this leap in play. However, if he does, it would tremendously help the Wolves, having a high-quality two-way wing/forward on a relatively cheap contract. Okogie seems exactly like the player that could become a third-star or fourth core player on a playoff-level team. An athletic high-effort player that already has an elite-level skill: defense.
If Okogie’s shot can come around (which remains to be seen), he has a lot more of a chance to become a really impactful player. He is already far and away the Minnesota Timberwolves’ best defender. He can guard almost any player from one to four.
The Timberwolves and Ryan Saunders should absolutely look to get creative in how they use Okogie, and hopefully develop his perimeter game into consistency.