The days of Bones Hyland having a huge role, particularly for a playoff team, seemed to be over. Two teams, the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers, grew tired of him before dealing him away. Bones played just 239 total minutes last season with the Clippers and Minnesota Timberwolves, and since he was on a two-way contract, Hyland was unavailable for Minnesota last year in the playoffs during their conference finals run.
Hyland was just 24 years old last season, but it seemed like his NBA career could be close to being over. Instead, the Timberwolves re-signed him to a minimum deal in the offseason. Expected to be a benchwarmer, instead, Bones has been wildly impactful for much of the season, and he is primed to play a large role as the playoffs near.
Hyland’s impact is completely unexpected
For a Timberwolves team that has sometimes struggled to find bench scoring this season (outside of Naz Reid), Hyland has been awesome for Minnesota. That continued in Tuesday’s win for the Wolves over the Indiana Pacers, ending a three-game losing streak.
In that victory, Bones was nearly a point-per-minute player (19 in 20:40). Nine of those came in a third quarter that saw Minnesota expand a 10-point halftime advantage to 25 points. This certainly wasn't a one-off experience for the point guard this year.
In the Wolves’ last 15 outings, Hyland has reached double-digits in scoring in 11 of them. Over that period, the fifth-year guard is shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc on nearly seven attempts per contest. On the season, Bones has connected on 113 3-pointers, well more than the 75 he combined to make in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
The 2021 first-round pick’s scoring has absolutely been needed as the team has gone through many offensive struggles of late. A large reason for this has been the absence of Anthony Edwards (who has now missed nine of the last 11 games). Even with Minnesota dropping 124 points on the Pacers on Tuesday, the team is 30th in offensive rating over the last nine games.
Now, with just three games remaining in the regular season, it’s evident that Bones will have a fairly large role in the postseason rotation. He will look to change the narrative of him underperforming in the playoffs (albeit in a not very large sample). In 13 career playoff performances, Hyland is shooting just 35.6 percent from the field and 29.2 percent from 3-point distance.