3 Timberwolves who tanked their trade value in 2023 season
By Will Eudy
2. Jaylen Nowell
In a year where he was supposed to be one of Minnesota’s top options off the bench, Jaylen Nowell’s play was far more inconsistent than fans had hoped. Known as a streaky but effective slashing scorer, Nowell put up a career-high in points per game, but did it at the expense of efficiency.
His 10.8 points per contest came on 44% shooting, but the real kicker was his percentage from beyond the arc, where he shot an ice-cold 28%. Nowell had the most opportunities on the floor in his four-year career this season with 19.3 minutes per game, but he has still not shown an ability to score efficiently on a consistent basis.
Jaylen does not bring a lot to the floor when he is not scoring. In 2022-23, he demonstrated once again that his shooting goes through hot and cold stretches, which made it harder for Chris Finch to play him when he was clearly having an off night. This led to games where the Timberwolves’ rotation would be shortened a player because Nowell was essentially unplayable.
The teams that paid attention to Minnesota this season may not have much interest in trading for Jaylen Nowell. His up-and-down play makes him quite a gamble, and if the Timberwolves were going to trade him, they should have done so last summer after he finished the 2021-22 season shooting nearly 40% from three.