The Minnesota Timberwolves are currently in their best era of basketball as a franchise. While this is true, they still haven’t come closer than three wins away from their first-ever NBA finals appearance these past three years.
It won’t be easy to take that next step in a Western Conference featuring the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. Still, they can give themselves a better chance of doing so by focusing on their needs. There are two clear ones that Marc Stein mentioned on The ALL NBA Podcast.
“Who are the Wolves going to trade?” Stein said. “The Wolves, they need ball-handling and shooting.”
The question that Stein asked will be answered at some point over the offseason. His next sentence is what I’ve believed are 2 obvious holes in their roster.
Shooting needed minus DiVincenzo
Last season, the Timberwolves finished 14th in 3-pointers made per game (13.8) and 17th in attempts per contest (37.2). That essentially put them middle of the pack in both categories.
The problem is that Donte DiVincenzo will be out a substantial amount of time next season after tearing his Achilles in the opening round. The Big Ragu nailed 244 3-pointers in 2025-26. That’s a high volume of shot-making from behind the arc that will be missing from the lineup, possibly for all of next year.
I’ve felt the same way as Stein about the needs of this Timberwolves squad. As long as they re-sign Dosunmu, they’re probably going to be an apron team, limiting their ability to pay outside free agents.I wrote about a couple of shooters that Minnesota can look into that should be cheap, including Simone Fontecchio and Amir Coffey.
Ball-handling might need to come by trade
In his latest Substack article on The Stein Line, Jake Fischer wrote this about the Timberwolves (and other teams),
"The Pistons, Timberwolves and Nets are all teams that rival front office executives and agents have described as highly interested in adding some of that off-the-dribble playmaking this offseason."
The Timberwolves went the majority of this past season without a traditional point guard in their starting lineup. It’s a large part of the reason that they finished the 2025-26 season just 20th in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Mike Conley did a solid job after joining the team, but he’ll be 39 before next season begins, and he is also a free agent. Bones Hyland and Ayo Dosunmu are also free agents.
There’s a reason that the Timberwolves are linked to players like Ja Morant and Kyrie Irving, though reports indicate that Kyrie isn't available.
If they want someone to really move the needle, though, it would likely have to come via trade. I do believe they will trade Julius Randle, but what is his value and what can the Wolves receive in return? Can he give the team a player that can help fill one of their aforementioned needs?
It’s going to be an interesting offseason in Minneapolis. The fan base will be super excited for next season if the holes in their roster can be filled.
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