There have been plenty of offensive woes for this Minnesota Timberwolves team ever since the trade for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo was ultimately made. The challenge of adapting to life without Karl-Anthony Towns has been a difficult one, no matter how you look at it.
The Wolves had clearly found a formula for success on the offensive end with last year's group. Defense was still their calling card, but they routinely punished their opponents with a high-powered offensive attack. Minnesota ranked in the top 10 for team shooting percentage, and that led them to finishing third in the league in average scoring margin.
This year has been quite a different story. The Timberwolves have really struggled to find consistent offense with their spacing and ball-holding issues, and those problems have only gotten worse in clutch time. As we look further at the numbers, it is also becoming evident this team has a three-point shooting problem.
Specifically, Minnesota is finding far less success with their corner three-point attempts. Timberwolves podcaster Ben Beecken, host of Locked On Wolves, pointed this out. Whereas the Wolves were eighth in the association with a 41.3% shooting mark on corner threes last season, they are all the way down to 25th in the NBA this season in that category, with just a 36.1% success rate.
On today's @lockedontwolves: Wolves have a corner 3 problem.
— Ben Beecken (@bbeecken) January 15, 2025
23-24: 41.3% (8th)
24-25: 36.1% (25th)
While MIN is shooting a TON more ATB (Ant is driving this, obviously), frequency from the corners is only up slightly.
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(Quick thread to list the primary culprits...)
Corner threes have become Minnesota's Achilles heel
Five percentage points may not seem like a world of a difference, but it is enough to put Minnesota among the six worst teams in the league in this category. Beecken makes some good points in addressing the primary reasons for this change, one of which being Julius Randle's performance. The Wolves' starting power forward is shooting a career-worst from the corners this season at just 21.1%, while attempting the second-most shots from this area of his career.
On top of that, Beecken also points out that several of Minnesota's other shooters have gotten worse in this category. Jaden McDaniels has steadily become less accurate from the corners, going from a 41.9% shooter two seasons ago, down to 36.1% last season, and currently sitting at 29.2%. Additionally, Naz Reid and Mike Conley have also seen their percentages drop from last season.
As for Anthony Edwards, he is taking the highest percentage of his threes from the corner since his rookie season. 12.2% of his threes are being attempted from the corner this year, and he is one of the few players that has actually seen his percentage increase. Edwards' 39.6% mark from the corners is the second-highest percentage of his career.
We can confidently say Ant is not the problem here, but the accuracy of many others on the roster is more than a little troubling. The team's spacing is clearly not helping in this department. Simply not making shots is one thing, but what these numbers tell me is that the Timberwolves are not generating enough high-quality looks in the corners to be respectable, which once again points back to Minnesota's overall offensive problems.