Minnesota Timberwolves: ESPN ranks two Wolves from No. 51 to No. 100

The Minnesota Timberwolves have two players represented in the first part of ESPN’s NBArank series, covering players from No. 100 down to No. 51.

This comes just a day after Sports Illustrated released the first part of their list, which included three Wolves.

Minnesota Timberwolves: ESPN ranks two Wolves from No. 51 to No. 100

The ESPN method was apparently asking their “expert panel”, as they call it, to vote between pairs of players in a “Player X vs. Player Y” type of exercise.

The list includes two Wolves players, with Karl-Anthony Towns to be included on the list at some point in the coming days, surely in the top 25 or so.

This time around, two Wolves players were listed.

ESPN ranks Minnesota Timberwolves’ D’Angelo Russell at No. 63

Ranking D’Angelo Russell at No. 63 isn’t all that surprising; he was No. 69 on last year’s ESPN list. But the fact that Russell is the Wolves’ lowest-ranked player on the list is a mild shock.

SI.com included Malik Beasley at No. 97 on their version of the top 100 players. They also had Anthony Edwards at No. 77, a full 16 spots ahead of Russell’s No. 61 ranking. We’ll get to Ant-Man’s ESPN ranking here in a moment.

Russell at No. 63 makes sense. His No. 69 ranking for a year ago was low, and after an injury-riddled and generally up-and-down 2020-21 campaign, it’s hard to argue against him rising six spots.

Interestingly, ESPN’s brief write-up about D’Lo’s ranking doesn’t mention his defensive shortcomings but instead focuses on his health, suggesting that is he stays healthy, he “could prove to be one of the best young point guards in the game.”

It’s easy to forget that Russell is still only 25 years old. And don’t forget that he only has two years left on the max deal he signed back in 2019, so he’s already playing towards that next contract as he gets ready to enter his prime.

ESPN ranks Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards at No. 52

Edwards’ ranking is the big surprise.

After ranking No. 77 on SI.com’s list, Edwards is a shocking 25 spots higher according to ESPN. That places him ahead of Jerami Grant of the Detroit Pistons (No. 53), John Collins (No. 54) and Clint Capela (No. 55) of the Atlanta Hawks, and Fred VanVleet of the Toronto Raptors (No. 56).

There are other notable names who ranked behind Edwards as well, from Lonzo Ball to Malcolm Brogdon to Gordon Hayward.

But the sudden respect garnered by Edwards is certainly well-earned. He was genuinely dominant for much of a 10-week span last spring.

As noted in our write-up from the SI.com piece:

"From March 1 through the end of the season, Edwards put up 23.6 points per game while shooting 45.1 percent from the floor, 34.1 from beyond the arc, and 76.5 percent from the free throw line. He added 5.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.4 steals per game.Compare that to his numbers from December, January, and February: 14.8 points per game on shooting splits of 37.2/31.2/80.0 with four rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 0.8 steals per game."

Edwards is knocking on the door of true stardom, and playing a high-usage role between Towns and Russell is going to give him plenty of opportunity to rack up numbers. Even Mike Schmitz’s write-up as part of ESPN’s ranking piece says that has “25-5-5 potential and the talent to lead the NBA in scoring.”

Indeed, the league is sitting up and taking notice of Edwards, and ESPN’s ranking is another step in the right direction for Edwards and the Wolves.