3 Timberwolves who shattered expectations in preseason

For the Minnesota Timberwolves, preseason play is now complete. As such, fans can shift their attention from roster moves and new uniform designs to what we’ve all truly been waiting for: regular season basketball.

However, in order to be best prepared for what we will see from the Timberwolves in the regular season, it’s still important to reflect on what we saw in preseason. Minnesota finished 4-1 in the exhibition slate, falling Friday night to the Brooklyn Nets in their only loss of the preseason.

Through five games, we saw Minnesota utilize a multitude of lineups and experiment with many different players on the floor together. The result was a very successful stretch of games that should have fans feeling optimistic headed into the year.

Over the course of five preseason games, there were several Timberwolves players who completely exceeded expectations. Let’s take a look at three of them.

1. Luka Garza

Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way first. Joining the team in August on an Exhibit-10 deal, Luka Garza didn’t have the greatest odds of actually ending up on the Timberwolves’ roster for the start of the season.

But that’s exactly what he ended up doing. After wowing everyone with a 15-point fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers last Wednesday night, the Timberwolves wasted no time in signing Garza to a two-way deal for 2022-23.

His versatile game proved to be too much for Minnesota to ignore. Drilling three shots from beyond the arc against the Lakers, he showed that he has real potential as a rebounding big that can stretch the floor with his sharp shooting.

Garza may have taken his first step in what becomes a long NBA career.