Jaden McDaniels is clearly one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. The recently turned 25-year-old was named to the All-Defensive Second Team in 2023-24 and just missed out on repeating that feat again last season. It’s on the other end of the floor where McDaniels has shown flashes of breaking out but also inconsistencies. Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic believes that there is still more to McDaniels’ offensive game as he enters his sixth season in the league.
Jaden McDaniels excels at the rim
On The Athletic NBA Daily podcast, Dave DuFour spoke with Krawczynski and asked him who he believes can see their game pop out this season for the Timberwolves. The first name Krawczynski brought up was McDaniels.
"I do think that he’s going into Year 6, he has already established himself as an elite defender in this league, but I think there’s a belief that there’s more to his offensive game, Krawczynski said. He’s not a catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter, but I think you’re going to see him put the ball on the floor a little bit more, make plays, run pick-and-rolls with Rudy Gobert. I think they’re going to try to be a little bit more creative with him offensively…I think he’s their best finisher at the rim, especially in transition."
Now McDaniels did not return to action after he seemingly hurt his left ankle in the third quarter in Minnesota's preseason tilt with the Knicks on Thursday. The hope is that he didn't return for precautionary reasons due to it being just a preseason game, but more info should be provided soon.
It’s not a stretch to call McDaniels the team’s best finisher at the rim. The 6-foot-9 forward shot an astounding 70.7% at the rim last season. Believe it or not, that’s actually worse than his career accuracy of 74.6%. In 2024-25, and throughout his career, about a quarter of his field goal attempts have come at the rim.
I’ll keep saying it: Jaden McDaniels is the Wolves best finisher in the open court. Need to get him more opportunities
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 10, 2025
It would behoove Chris Finch to find more opportunities to get McDaniels driving to the hole. As good as Minnesota has been these last 2 seasons, in both of them, they finished in the bottom half in 2-point accuracy.
McDaniels is coming off career-high scoring season
In 2024-25, McDaniels averaged a career-high 12.2 points while appearing in all 82 outings. In many of the Timberwolves’ contests, he wasn’t utilized enough in the offense. In 28 games, McDaniels finished with a single-digit point total.
Perhaps his playoff run, where his scoring average upped to 14.7, can become a springboard to an increased offensive impact this season. With the Timberwolves not adding an outside free agent to a standard deal, they are counting on improvement from their younger players. While many are focusing on players like Terrence Shannon Jr., Rob Dillingham, and Jaylen Clark, McDaniels is young enough that we probably haven’t seen him at his peak either.