Milwaukee Bucks player believes one Timberwolf can still make a big leap

Every Minnesota Timberwolves fan remembers Anthony Edwards' famous (infamous?) quote about Jaden McDaniels. Following the Phoenix Suns' trade for Kevin Durant in 2023, Edwards set the record straight. "They got KD, but we got Jaden McDaniels."

The NBA community largely laughed it off at the time, even turning it into a new meme format. But when the first round of the 2024 playoffs came and Minnesota swept Phoenix out of the postseason while McDaniels went for a playoff career-high 25 points in Game 2, the Timberwolves were the only ones left laughing.

Suffice to say, underestimating McDaniels' talent has not gone well for those opposed to Minnesota. His talent has been underrated for years, and now many outsiders are finally beginning to see what kind of skill he possesses.

The craziest part? There is plenty of evidence that Jaden is still growing as a player, and is not even in his final form yet. He will enter next season at 24 years old, with tons of time to continue developing. Former Timberwolves player and current Milwaukee Bucks wing Taurean Prince pointed this out on a recent episode of Tidal League's Run Your Race Podcast hosted by Theo Pinson.

Jaden McDaniels still has an incredibly high ceiling

Without being prompted, Prince spoke up on the Timberwolves' young wing. "You want to know who I think can actually get a lot better too? Jaden McDaniels," Prince said. "I'm interested to see what jump he takes."

Pinson quickly agreed with his assessment. "Oh he about to be an issue. Because he sprinkled a little bit in there in the playoffs last year," Theo said. It is interesting that he points this out, because the biggest jump Jaden took in terms of his scoring power actually came in the previous season, when he put up a career-best 12.1 points per night in 79 regular season games.

McDaniels largely kept that production up in the 2023-24 season, but he did it while earning an all-defensive team selection as well. Prince went on to explain just how far Jaden has come, saying he did not know who McDaniels was when he arrived in Minnesota during the summer of 2021. "I didn't even know his name when I first got there," Taurean said. "I called him '100 mil.' That was his name for me, because I saw it from the jump."

This is certainly some high praise from a man who knows a thing or two about being an effective three-and-D player in the NBA. Pinson did an excellent job of summing up the big picture when it comes to Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels as a duo.

"It's definitely their team," he said. "It's scary to see how, the confidence piece is one thing, but it's more of how fluid and easy it looks for them."