Bones Hyland has been incredible of late. After looking like he wasn’t part of their opening-night rotation—he only saw garbage time in a blowout win over the Miami Heat—the 26-year-old has been scoring at will.
With Anthony Edwards out, several Minnesota Timberwolves players needed to step up, and Hyland has certainly done so.
At 9-3, the Timberwolves still have 70 regular season games remaining. Still, the hope has to remain that months from now, Hyland can maintain something close to his level of play come playoff time, because he hasn’t shown he can yet in his career.
Bones Hyland continues to make a large impact without large minutes
An easy 39-point win over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday saw Hyland at his finest. Twenty-four points in less than 23 minutes on just 10 shots. Some of that came with the game already decided, but he knocked down two 3-pointers and dished out three assists while playing just 4.5 minutes in the opening quarter.
That’s one of many performances in which Hyland has been a thorn in the opponent’s defense. It’s the sixth time in the last eight outings that he’s reached double figures in scoring. It’s not coming in huge minutes either. Since Edwards went down, Hyland has played 15.8 minutes per contest and averaged 13.6 points.
Over this stretch, Hyland has been on a steady diet of 3-pointers and drives to the basket. His quickness and constant movement make it rather difficult for the opposition to slow him down.
Hyland needs to translate success to the postseason
Playoff basketball often slows down. Scoring becomes harder to score as offensive ratings drop. Hyland still hasn't figured out how to be effective in that postseason setting.
In 23 career playoff games, Hyland has shot 33.6 percent from the field and 28.0 percent from beyond the arc. He isn’t playing because of his defense (though he has eight steals in his last eight outings), so if the shot isn’t falling, it's tough to have him on the floor when the stakes are higher. That’s a big reason his previous teams—the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers—soured on him.
Chris Finch pulled him from the rotation in their series against the San Antonio Spurs. This came after a 2025-26 regular season in which he played a much larger role than expected at the start of the year.
Hyland’s play without Edwards has been a huge boon in helping the team perform well even without their superstar. Until he plays well in the postseason, though, that question has to pop up: Will this year be different?
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