The talk of the town has understandably been Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, and Jaden McDaniels, but the Minnesota Timberwolves' depth has arguably been the most impressive this season. Two games ago, in their win over the Orlando Magic, the stars struggled mightily on offense, but it didn't matter; the Wolves still won in a blowout.
To give lots of shoutouts, Ayo Dosunmu, Terrence Shannon Jr., and Trey Lyles have been nothing short of fantastic so far. They're all playing their roles to perfection, and even in some cases, doing more than most fans thought possible. For a team that had depth concerns, Ayo, Shannon, and Lyles give them a rock-solid top-eight.
Assuming the Wolves stars continue to play at a high level like they've been doing, and the depth continues to shine as they've been, it's hard to find many teams better this season
The Wolves' role players have been unreal to start the season
While he's a starter, Jonathan Kuminga has been an awesome complementary player, averaging 12 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3 assists on 48/63.6(!!)/50 splits. There were real spacing concerns coming into the offseason, but every time he takes a corner 3-pointer so far, it seems like it's nothing but net.
Getting back to the bench, Dosunmu is averaging 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 5.3 assists, with splits of 51.6/42.9/66.7, and in the win over the Magic, he flirted with a triple-double off the bench. He finished with 14, seven, and nine that game. The other member of the Fighting Illini, Shannon, is averaging 12.7 points, three rebounds, and 1.7 assists, with ridiculous efficiency at 57.1/50/63.6 splits.
Dosunmu has been the worst 3-point shooter on that list, and he's still comfortably over the 40 percent mark. The last guy who has severely surpassed expectations coming into the season is Trey Lyles. The stats don't jump off the page at all, but he's been a key reserve off the bench after coming into the season with a rather unclear role.
Joan Beringer has been a bit rocky, but he's also flashed his upside, particularly against the Magic. If he continues to grow, the Wolves' bench will further level up.
Obviously, I don't expect these absurd shooting percentages to stick. Will Kuminga continue to shoot 63.6 percent from distance? Unlikely. Will Shannon continue to be at 50 percent? Also unlikely, but the developments we've seen from this unit have been key to the Wolves' hot start.
Regardless, going 3-0 against three playoff-caliber Eastern Conference teams to start the year is no small feat, and outside of Edwards' 45-point outburst in game one, none of the stars have had outlandishly good games.
The roster is just deeper than anybody expected, and with the connectivity and chemistry looking elite already, there's a sense that this hot start is just the beginning of what's to come.
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