Minnesota Timberwolves fans have a lot to look forward to next season. They finally landed a star point guard and got the best available player to take over as the starting power forward. Anthony Edwards is entering his age-25 season and is consistently getting better.
The Wolves fan base is also looking forward to seeing more of one of their reserves: Joan Beringer. The second-year center is set to have a much larger role than he did as a rookie. But what can weexpect from Beringer in Year 2?
Sophomore rise for Beringer
Last season was expected to be similar to a redshirt year for the 17th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, and that’s mostly what it was.
Still somewhat raw and inexperienced in the sport, Beringer played just 40 regular-season games for a total of 314 minutes. Now that both Julius Randle and Naz Reid are no longer with the club, Beringer looks to be the first big man off the bench to spell Rudy Gobert. Chris Finch will likely want one of the two on the court at all times for rim protection.
Last season, Gobert played 31.7 minutes per game, his lowest total since 2022–23. At 34 years old, a large increase can’t be expected, but with less frontcourt depth, let’s put his 2026–27 average at around 33 minutes per game.
It doesn’t seem likely that Gobert and Beringer will share the court all that much for floor spacing reasons, so that would give the latter 15 minutes per game.
At least one block and around 1.5 offensive rebounds per game can probably be expected with that playing time. As a rim-runner, Beringer should find his way to at least a couple of easy buckets every game.
In his limited minutes last season, Beringer frequently committed fouls. It would be hard for him to get into major foul trouble often if he’s only playing 15 minutes a night. Still, it's something he needs to control to show that he can eventually be a worthy successor to Gobert.
Beringer may have an average of more than 15 minutes by the end of the year since he likely will be thrust into the starting lineup in games Gobert misses. Gobert doesn’t sit out much, though, but in those instances, Beringer could play around 25 minutes. Finishing with around a double-double in points and rebounds should be the expectation in those outings.
The potential is sky-high for Beringer. It probably won’t all come together next season, as he will be turning just 20 years old on November 11, but he should be able to showcase the reasons why he can stay in the league for a long time.
It’s easy to see Beringer becoming even more of a fan favorite off the bench this year because of his effort on both sides of the floor.
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