It can be said that Joan Beringer may have been drafted into the perfect situation with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Selected 17th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft, the nearly 7-foot center spent the majority of last season as a 19-year-old.
Most of the 2025–26 season consisted of Beringer either sitting on the bench with the NBA club or playing in the G League. That was expected, and there’s nothing wrong with that. A year of learning under Rudy Gobert could do wonders for Beringer heading into the upcoming season and for his career as a whole.
Beringer’s impact will be felt much more this year after a season of watching Gobert
Beringer has barely any experience playing basketball, as he started playing at an older age. Still, his potential as a long-term center for the Timberwolves can easily be seen—particularly on the defensive end.
Enter Gobert. There are very few centers in league history from whom a young neophyte can learn more than by watching and practicing with The Stifle Tower. It’s nearly impossible to reach the four-time Defensive Player of the Year’s ceiling on the defensive side, but surely being Gobert’s understudy can improve Beringer’s chances of becoming an All-Defensive-caliber player at some point in his career.
The obvious reason Beringer landed in the perfect spot is that he joins Gobert as a fellow Frenchman. It can’t be easy for someone to quickly acclimate to new surroundings—or, in this case, a new country. Gobert was in the same situation more than a decade ago and can share what he has learned since then.
This season will be Beringer’s opportunity to shine. With both Julius Randle and Naz Reid no longer on the roster, Beringer seems in line to be the first big man off the bench. Gobert doesn’t miss many games, but Beringer should crack the starting lineup whenever Gobert needs a rest.
As a rookie in 2025-26, Beringer saw action in 40 regular-season games with Minnesota for a total of 314 minutes. Per-36-minute averages of 10.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks help show that he can help the team not go through the struggles on the defensive end that they often experienced in recent years when Gobert needed a breather.
In his brief playing time with the Timberwolves, Beringer showcased why the team felt comfortable giving him a much larger role. It’s now time for Beringer to prove his worth and give Wolves fans reason to believe that he is a worthy eventual successor to Gobert.
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