3 Timberwolves who shattered expectations in preseason
By Will Eudy
2. Jaylen Nowell
While it may not have been an unexpected turn of events to see Jaylen Nowell come out of the gate playing well in preseason, he certainly still shattered expectations.
Many expected Jaylen to be one of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ prime candidates for a sixth man this season, but not everyone expected to see him produce at such a high level right away.
Nowell was inserted into the starting lineup for the Wolves’ first preseason contest, where he scored a seemingly effortless 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Over the next three games he scored in double figures on 66, 50, and 46% shooting, respectively.
His last outing against Brooklyn was something of an outlier where he went scoreless in 21 minutes. Outside of that performance, he was nearly spotless in the preseason.
Nowell’s seamless transition to the starting lineup against the Miami Heat had to have been encouraging for Timberwolves fans. It was a sure sign that when D’Angelo Russell is off the floor this season, Jaylen will have no trouble filling in.
Minnesota will be looking for Nowell to be a spark plug and an efficient scorer that can provide quality minutes off the bench like he’s done in the past. So far, he’s shown he’s still more than up to the task.