Minnesota Timberwolves: Summer League schedule and which players will play…

The Minnesota Timberwolves have announced their schedule for Las Vegas Summer League.

Also, head coach Chris Finch gave some insight into which players would be on the roster and who will be staying home.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Jaden McDaniels will play in Summer League, Anthony Edwards won’t

Finch appeared on WCCO Radio and declared that not only would Jaden McDaniels be on the Wolves’ Las Vegas Summer League entry, but he will be the “focal point” of the team.

It makes plenty of sense, of course. McDaniels was thought of as something of a project when he was drafted last year. He was a lottery talent who struggled in conference play as a one-and-done player and slid to No. 28 in the first round and wasn’t even in the rotation at the start of his rookie year.

But as the season wore on, he became the Wolves’ most versatile defender and a solid, albeit low-usage offensive contributor.

In Summer League, the Wolves staff will want to see McDaniels be more aggressive offensively. Instead of only shooting catch-and-shoot 3-pointers and occasionally pump-faking and dribbling into a long 2-point attempt, McDaniels needs to add the ability to get to the rim to his arsenal.

He’ll have plenty of leash in Vegas, and it should be fun to see the Wolves give him the keys to the Summer League car.

Another development making that even easier is that Finch also mentioned that Anthony Edwards will officially not be participating in Las Vegas. This also makes sense; he was the Rookie of the Year runner-up and is such a huge part of what Minnesota wants to do in 2022 and beyond that it isn’t worth trotting him out there.

Additionally, he sprained his ankle in U.S. Select camp in Vegas a few weeks ago, and while he certainly appears to be feeling better of late, it’s the right move to keep him off the floor in Las Vegas Summer League.

Another player who will be taking the floor is Jaylen Nowell, the soon-to-be third-year guard who had a strong run from late January into early March as a microwave-type scorer off the bench. He will need to show commitment on the defensive end of the floor as well as improvement initiating offense.

Don’t be surprised to see Nowell run a good deal of offense in Vegas with McDaniels as the primary off-ball option.

Minnesota Timberwolves Las Vegas Summer League schedule

The Wolves announced their Summer League schedule this week, opening on Sunday, August 9 with a 6 p.m. CT tip against the San Antonio Spurs’ entry. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

All four of the Wolves’ initial summer games will be on TV. On Thursday, Aug. 12, they’ll take on the Chicago Bulls at 3 p.m. on NBA TV. The third game is on Friday, Aug. 12, also a 3 p.m. tip and also televised on NBA TV, this time against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The final preliminary round game is on Sunday, Aug. 15 at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2 against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Unlike past years when there has been a full-on tournament, this year’s Summer League will feature a championship game between the two teams with the best record after the initial four games. Of course, there will be myriad tiebreakers to solve the puzzle.

All teams will play a fifth game, however, so there will eventually be one game added to the above schedule.