Timberwolves need to make a Jaden McDaniels adjustment and Anthony Edwards knows it

Jaden McDaniels' offensive growth has been one of the most positive aspects of the Minnesota Timberwolves' season. The 25-year-old is averaging 15.2 points on 52.5/44.1/85.1 shooting splits and has emerged as the team's clear third option. Even still, it feels like McDaniels is underutilized in the Wolves' offense at times. 

Tuesday's win over the Memphis Grizzlies is another example of this trend, as McDaniels had 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting. Frankly, McDaniels is too talented to have games where he shoots fewer than 10 shots in a game, especially when he is playing well, and it comes down to involvement, not a lack of aggressiveness on his part. After the game, Anthony Edwards openly said that the Wolves need to find more shots for McDaniels. 

"Jaden is really good at basketball. So, we are trying to find ways to get him more shots... I'm super aggressive. I always want to score, but like sometimes I got to take a step back and give him the rock cuz he's just as good," Edwards said. 

Ant is spot on with his comments -- he's obviously one of the game's most dominant scorers, but leaning on his teammates just a bit more would benefit all parties. Sunday's win over the Denver Nuggets was arguably the Wolves' best game of the season, and Edwards notched 21 points and six assists, which led to balanced scoring output, including 20 points for McDaniels.

The Wolves need to take full advantage of McDaniels' offensive leap

All season long, I've advocated for the Wolves to double down on McDaniels' scoring growth. He has quickly become one of the league's most efficient three-level scorers, and at 6-foot-9, he can expose mismatches. The problem is that the Wolves rarely run actions for McDaniels, and most of his points come within the flow of the offense. 

Listen, as great as McDaniels is at spotting up, attacking closeouts, or getting out in transition, he can do a lot more. According to Basketball Index, McDaniels ranks in the 82nd percentile for self-created shot making efficiency. Yet he ranks in just the 52nd percentile for offensive involvement rate. 

I'm not saying that McDaniels should suddenly have more usage than Edwards or Julius Randle. Nevertheless, using him more in isolation and pick-and-roll plays would give the Wolves' offense an extra wrinkle. His growth as a playmaker also makes this possibility more practical.

Even if the Wolves simply use more off-ball actions to open up quality catch-and-shoot looks for McDaniels on the perimeter, that would be a significant step in the right direction. Part of this is on the coaching staff, but as Edwards noted, another part of this is his teammates prioritizing his involvement in the offense. 

It would be nice to see McDaniels get a bigger role in the offense for the rest of the season. Nevertheless, we won't see the true benefits of empowering McDaniels until the playoffs, when teams will be even more focused on limiting Edwards and Randle.