The Minnesota Timberwolves have transformed their roster this offseason but for all the splashy moves Tim Connelly has made, the question still remains whether the Wolves are a better team than they were one year ago.
According to FanSided’s Oliver Fox, the answer is yes – with a catch. Fox put the Wolves fourth in his latest rankings, one spot ahead of the fifth-place finish the Wolves had at the end of the 2025-26 campaign. While he believes Minnesota is a better team, he also questioned what it took to get there.
“I’m already on the record as despising [the LaMelo Ball trade] for Minnesota,” Fox wrote. “It nukes their optionality and ties them to a player who has hardly proven his reliability and makes maddening decisions on offense. They also lost a ton of size in the [Naz Reid and Julius Randle] trades and now have three guards of their best four players. It’s a major risk, but talent in vs. talent out? They got better.”
Timberwolves’ risks have reaped an early reward this offseason
In terms of the Wolves’ standing in the NBA, their offseason moves haven’t made up enough ground in the Western Conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder are the No. 1 team in Fox’s rankings, followed by the San Antonio Spurs at No. 2. The defending NBA champion New York Knicks check at No. 3 on the list, and when you look at it that way, the Wolves are in a pretty good spot.
But like Fox said, there is some risk versus reward.
The Wolves were dominated by the size of Victor Wembanyama during the Western Conference Semifinals, and instead of getting bigger, they went the opposite direction. Even if Randle and Reid leaving removes some of the frontcourt depth, there’s also a good chance it could be addition by subtraction.
Randle was a much-maligned figure by the end of the season for his inconsistent play and moody demeanor. While he was solid in the first-round series against the Denver Nuggets with 19.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists in six games, he fell off a cliff with 12.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists in the six-game series against the Spurs.
Taking Randle out of the power forward spot created a huge hole in the starting lineup, but it also freed up minutes for Joan Beringer after a promising rookie season. Furthermore, this could also create the gateway to landing LeBron James, which could make this team even better moving forward.
Reid may be in a similar situation. While he was a fan-favorite that inspired many tattoos across the Twin Cities area, another step as a starter wasn’t going to be a guaranteed success. Even if the Wolves did promote him to the starting lineup, it would have left a void in terms of bench scoring, and it was decided that it was more beneficial to land the starting point guard they needed.
LaMelo Ball must stay healthy for this to work, but he has the upside as a scorer and facilitator to unlock another level of the Timberwolves offense. Having Dosunmu come off the bench to replace Reid’s scoring is also a key benefit, and the Wolves could also finally see the extra gear in Jaden McDaniels’s offensive game.
This, along with Anthony Edwards being the superstar that he is, makes the Wolves a pretty good team even if they don’t land James in the coming weeks.
And if they do land James, that could make them even better and perhaps give them the firepower to legitimately challenge the Spurs and the Thunder.
With that in mind, ranking fourth isn’t a bad place for the Wolves to be at this point in the offseason. They have room to grow as the summer continues if they sign James or make another move to address the power forward position.
Even if they don’t make another big move, Minnesota is set to be a contender and may have accomplished the primary objective they had going into the offseason.
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