3 best teams for the Timberwolves to play on 2023 opening night

The schedule for the 2023-24 NBA season is set to be released sometime this month. It will not be long before the Minnesota Timberwolves find out when and where they will be playing every team in the association this season.

Of course, Wolves fans will want to keep an eye out for a few special occasions when the upcoming schedule is released. The inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament will be taking place in the fall, and there is always the outside the chance Minnesota could be selected to play on Christmas.

But one of the most intriguing matchups of the year is always opening night. It is a chance for the team to show how far they have come in the offseason, and give fans a glimpse of what they could be in for over the following 81 games. There are a few teams that would be excellent choices as the Timberwolves’ opening night opponent.

The 3 best teams for the Timberwolves to play on opening night:

1. Denver Nuggets

What better way to begin the season than a rematch of the first round of the playoffs against the NBA champions? Granted, it is hard to see the league picking the Timberwolves here, as several teams that made it further in the playoffs will be looked upon more favorably by the league as the defending champs’ opening night test.

But we can dream. After all, Bruce Brown noted that he thought Minnesota was Denver’s “toughest series” of the playoffs. There is a real case to be made that if the Wolves had won their play-in matchup with the Lakers and secured the seventh seed, they would have been able to make the same run to the conference finals that LA did.

If that had happened, the Lakers would have taken the eight seed and been eliminated by the Nuggets in the first round. Perhaps everyone would be buzzing about the Timberwolves as a title contender this year instead of the Lakers. Either way, pitting the incredible abilities of Nikola Jokic against the two-way power of Anthony Edwards would be a must-see matchup for opening night.