At the start of the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ fanbase was excited about Joan Beringer. His potential was evident in his rookie year, even if he didn’t play much.
As with anyone, questions remained about how Beringer would fare in a much larger role—one that opened up largely after the team traded Julius Randle and Naz Reid. One of the top concerns about the neophyte was his tendency to pick up fouls.
Through six games, the 19-year-old has done a remarkable job of limiting his fouls. It’s almost as if a switch flipped on opening night, and Beringer quickly learned to play without fouling much.
Joan Beringer has avoided foul trouble this season
Let’s remember that Beringer won’t even turn 20 until November 11, and he only started playing basketball in 2021.
So it's promising to watch him turn a flaw into a non-issue—at least for six games. In Friday’s win over the Los Angeles Clippers, Beringer had two in over 18 minutes. It wasn’t his most productive game—four points, four rebounds—but the team was a plus-8 with the 7-footer on the floor. Beringer also didn’t commit a first-half foul after playing over eight minutes.
Obviously, six games aren’t a large sample size. Still, Beringer hasn’t committed more than two fouls in any of them (one in the first four, two in the last two).
His blocks are down to start the year, but that might be intentional. Beringer isn’t trying to swat every shot into the fourth row. He’s staying on his feet and contesting shots that way. While both of Beringer’s fouls were shooting fouls on Friday, he only had two of those in the first five games.
He won't get huge minutes, though his playing time could increase if Rudy Gobert keeps struggling (Gobert had a mostly solid game on Friday). Beringer probably wasn’t a foul-out risk because he doesn’t play enough. Regardless, he hasn’t needed to sit with two or three quick fouls, and it helps the team because Beringer isn’t causing them to quickly put the opponent in the penalty and let them shoot free throws.
Committed fouls at a much higher rate as a rookie
Thus far, Beringer is averaging 16.1 minutes per game, far more than the 7.9 he averaged in his 2025-26 rookie year.
Last season, the 17th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft had six outings where he played at least 16 minutes. In those contests, Beringer fouled out once, picked up five fouls twice, and had his fewest-foul game once (two). Altogether, he committed a whopping 5.4 fouls per 36 minutes, and over six games this year, that number has nearly halved (3.0).
Earlier this month in the preseason, Beringer’s foul woes reared their ugly head again. Without playing huge minutes, he had three games with four fouls and one with three in his six preseason appearances. As mentioned, he still doesn’t have a regular-season game with at least three fouls.
Not yet 20, Beringer will likely have inconsistencies this year. Friday night was his least impactful game since the regular season opener. Still, it was yet another game where the fouls didn’t come fast and furious. That’s a sign of progress, and it lets him get as many on-court reps as possible without needing to sit.
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