Joan Beringer looks to be an excellent candidate to win Most Improved Player in the 2026-27 season. After barely playing as a rookie, the 17th overall pick in 2025 will be thrust into a much larger role.
That’s a situation that previous MIP winners have often faced. Even if they don’t “improve” by leaps and bounds, those players have large statistical increases.
Two things will hurt Beringer’s chances of being in the conversation for the award. One, he is still coming off the bench behind Rudy Gobert. The other is that Chris Finch will rarely play the two together, if ever, which will limit Beringer’s minutes.
Beringer likely won’t play enough to be in the hunt for MIP
Yes, Gobert is 34. He also takes care of his body better than nearly anyone, remains elite defensively, and rarely sustains lingering injuries.
Last season, the 13-year veteran played 31.3 minutes per game. Gobert has played at least 30 minutes per game every season since his third year in the league. In recent years, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year has received that playing time despite sharing the frontcourt with notable players like Karl-Anthony Towns, Julius Randle, and Naz Reid.
So, it would be surprising if Gobert played less than 30 minutes per game in 2026-27. If he plays exactly that, Beringer would be left with 18 minutes per contest.
It would be hard for the soon-to-be 20-year-old to put up enough numbers in that amount of time. Per 36 minutes last season—albeit in a year he played just 314 minutes total—Beringer averaged 17.9 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks. Eighteen minutes is half of 36, so those averages would be around 9.0, 5.3, and 1.5, respectively.
Those averages could improve a bit now that Beringer is entering his second year. It still likely wouldn’t be enough to insert his name into MIP talks. The 6-foot-11 center also fouled at a high rate last season, so there may be games where he plays less than usual because of foul trouble.
DraftKings Sportsbook has Beringer’s MIP odds at +6000, tied for 32nd-best. The Timberwolves have three players with better odds than Beringer: Jaden McDaniels (+3000), Terrence Shannon Jr. (+4000), and Jonathan Kuminga (+5000).
There’s also still a chance that Beringer, still not very experienced in the sport, isn’t quite ready for this larger role. The potential is there, though. It just may not result in an award, at least until Gobert is no longer on the team.
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