With a versatile roster at his disposal, Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch has plenty of combinations to try during the 2021-22 season.
But what are the three most likely starting lineups we could see announced on opening night this fall? How many players on the team are actually genuine locks for the starting lineup?
Minnesota Timberwolves Lineup: 3 options for 2021-22 starting five
President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas has intentionally built a positionally flexible roster.
While it’s admittedly largely due to the demands of modern-day basketball, there are precious few players who are essentially locked to one position. In fact, a pair of point guards in yet-to-be-signed restricted free agent Jordan McLaughlin and rookie two-way player McKinley Wright IV are arguably the only ones.
Gone are the days of Gorgui Dieng, Nikola Pekovic, or Cole Aldrich locked into the center spot. Even as recently as last year, Ricky Rubio was locked in at point guard and Juancho Hernangomez wasn’t a logical fit at any position other than power forward.
Now, the roster is impressively flexible, with a variety of offensive skills and the youth, athleticism, and size to play multiple roles on the defensive end of the floor — in theory, at least.
Let’s take a look at three different lineup combinations that Finch could roll with at the start of the 2021-22 season.
Minnesota Timberwolves Lineup Combination No. 1
G: D’Angelo Russell
G: Malik Beasley
G/F: Anthony Edwards
F: Jaden McDaniels
C: Karl-Anthony Towns
More likely than not, this is the opening night starting lineup that we’ll see when the Timberwolves play host to the Houston Rockets on Oct. 20.
Towns and Russell are both max-contract players and will be starting. Yes, Russell came off the bench post-surgery last year, but with Rubio gone and Russell at full health, he’ll be starting at point guard.
Edwards is also a lock to start. The Rookie of the Year award runner-up played at an All-Star-caliber level over the final two-plus months of the 2020-21 campaign. His days as a sixth man are long gone.
Beasley and McDaniels are the two question marks. Beasley is the third-highest player on the roster and has averaged 19.9 points per game while shooting 40.6 percent on 3-point attempts over 51 games in a Wolves uniform. While he’ll get his shots up, he isn’t a truly ball-dominant player and instead fits the Towns/Russell/Edwards trio nicely as a top-flight catch-and-shoot threat and dangerous scorer in transition.
The bet here is that he starts, with the only drawback being that the four best offensive players on the team would all be in the starting lineup, leaving the bench somewhat exposed.
McDaniels is an exciting young player who would be the only plus defender in the lineup in this scenario. At this stage in his career, he’s a low usage offensive option with the ability to knock down open jumpers. He’s a fantastic fit at either the 3 or the 4 on this team, and the case to make him a starter is an easy one.
Still, there are at least two other legitimate options that Finch could trot out on opening night. Let’s take a look at a combination that would balance out offense and defense a bit better.