The season is just one week old, but the Minnesota Timberwolves have already made tremendous strides. On opening night, the Wolves looked discombobulated at times, struggling to score at the same rate as they did last year and dropping the prime time matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers.
There was always going to be an adjustment period for a team that made such a huge move as trading Karl-Anthony Towns. The Timberwolves still have some obvious flaws, but the good news is that the team had adapted well since opening night, winning two straight and seeing fantastic play out of Julius Randle. Now, Minnesota has made their next move toward pursuing a championship.
On Monday, team PR announced that the Timberwolves had officially assigned three players to the G League. Leonard Miller, Jaylen Clark and Jesse Edwards have all been assigned to the Iowa Wolves and will remain with the squad until further notice.
NEWS: @Timberwolves assign forward Leonard Miller to G League affiliate @iawolves.
— Timberwolves PR (@Twolves_PR) October 28, 2024
Minnesota also transfers guard Jaylen Clark and center Jesse Edwards to @iawolves.
Leonard Miller, Jaylen Clark and Jesse Edwards all head to G League
This was the expected result for Clark and Edwards, but Leonard Miller is perhaps the more surprising inclusion. Clark and Edwards, along with Daishen Nix, represent the three players signed to the Timberwolves' two-way contracts. They are expected to be with the G League club for a large part of the season, but Miller is on a standard full-time contract.
Even so, his G League assignment still makes a lot of sense given what we saw out of him in preseason. Miller was not able to make nearly as big an impact as many expected during Minnesota's prep for the season, which felt like a letdown to the fanbase. But with that outcome, the best next step is getting him to Iowa where he can actually get real minutes and continue developing his game.
The alternative would be him sitting on the bench with the Timberwolves, with frequent complaints of him not playing coming from fans. In getting an opportunity in the G League, Miller can get plenty of reps in and hash out mistakes in real time.
Rookie Jesse Edwards and sophomore Jaylen Clark have yet to play a minute in the NBA, so they were obvious candidates to earn an assignment with Iowa. Daishen Nix will remain with the NBA club for the time being, but a G League assignment is likely for him soon as well.