In the 2023 offseason, the Minnesota Timberwolves signed forward Jaden McDaniels to a five-year/$136 million rookie scale extension. At the time, it was seen as a major overpay by many, but those talks have mostly vanished in the ensuing years due to his play on the court.
Now in his sixth season, McDaniels has always been a more polished player on the defensive end floor. The 25-year-old had been making massive strides, though, on his weaker side of the court for much of the early stages of the 2025-26 season. Recent reports have also stated that the Timberwolves see McDaniels as untouchable in trade talks.
A recent stretch of play for McDaniels has some fans concerned that he could revert tothe inconsistent player on offense that they have grown accustomed to throughout his career.
McDaniels attempts only four shots in Saturday's win
Saturday’s 125-115 win over the Miami Heat was needed for the Timberwolves after their New Year’s Eve embarrassment against the Atlanta Hawks. Still, it’s now been three straight games where we’ve seen passivity from McDaniels on offense.
The 2020 first-round pick attempted just four shots against Miami in 34 minutes. That is after combining for 14 field goal tries over 46 minutes in the previous two contests against Atlanta and the Brooklyn Nets.
Jaden McDaniels PnR pull-up midrange jumper pic.twitter.com/vO0nbVmadc
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) January 3, 2026
That’s now three straight where McDaniels hasn’t attempted double-digit field goals. In his first 28 games, that occurred just six times (and one of those was a game McDaniels left in the second quarter with an injury).
Last season, McDaniels appeared in all 82 games. In exactly half of them, he ended up with fewer than 10 field goal attempts. So, it’s clear that for much of this season, we have seen a more assertive McDaniels on offense.
Still in midst of best offensive season
It’s an 82-game season. Most players are going to have stretches of play that aren’t close to what they look like for the majority of the year.
McDaniels is still in the midst of a career-best year on offense. He has excellent shooting splits of 50.5/41.8/86.1, and his 14.5 points per game average is 2.3 more than he has previously averaged over a season.
It’s unrealistic to believe that McDaniels will ever get more touches or shot attempts than Anthony Edwards or Julius Randle. For the Timberwolves to reach their ultimate heights, though, being a consistent third option is what McDaniels has to become, especially since he's viewed as untouchable in trade talks.