Joan Beringer has been impressing the Minnesota Timberwolves non-stop since they worked him out in a high school gym in a Chicago suburb days before the 2025 NBA Draft.
In the year since that workout, Beringer has skyrocketed past all early expectations. He has aced every test the Timberwolves have thrown his way. Now, Beringer will man a consistent and pretty significant role for a Minnesota team that enters the 2026-27 with a new-look roster that may be flawed, but that has the same championship aspirations as it's had for the last three years.
Beringer has provided plenty of reason to believe he is ready for this expanded role, and the Wolves need to see what they have in the young phenom. But with that necessary move comes unavoidable risk.
What if Beringer struggles? What if the expectations prove too much for the still unproven big man? What would come next for the Wolves?
What has Beringer done to earn this role so soon?
Beringer began playing basketball only four years before he was drafted. Aside from the Wolves drafting him two picks outside of the lottery, it appeared as though Beringer would need ample time before he would prove to the Timberwolves that he was ready for meaningful minutes.
Instead, he began proving his readiness three months into his rookie year, when he recorded 13 points and five rebounds in a mid-January 139-106 win against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Beringer played over ten minutes seven times in his rookie year, averaging 12.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 1.4 assists, and 3.9 fouls on 74% shooting in those contests. He did enough—both in mop-up minutes and as a part of the rotation—to give the Wolves reason to believe he can convert what he did in a small sample size into a full body of work this year.
He showed off his natural athleticism and relentless energy on offense, which makes him effective rolling to the rim off pick-and-rolls and a constant presence on the offensive glass. He has a keen understanding of when to pass out against a collapsed defense and has shown the ability to make plays downhill with the ball in his hands.
Joan Beringer with a little stare down after this and-one. pic.twitter.com/uCroFBBKIb
— Charlie Walton (@CharlieWaltonMN) July 9, 2026
Defensively, Beringer has been an effective rim protector when he stays down on pump fakes. His footspeed—which can be traced back to his days playing soccer growing up—allows him to be a versatile defender at 6-foot-11 and keep guards in front of him when defending in space.
The Wolves are very intrigued by Beringer’s switching ability on defense, which they believe can give them optionality with how they deploy him this season, perhaps even playing him at power forward occasionally.
However, after trading away Julius Randle and Naz Reid to bring in LaMelo Ball, Beringer’s primary responsibility this season will be to back up Gobert for a Wolves team that is lacking legitimate frontcourt size. That lack of size could hurt Minnesota against bigger frontcourts, but not if Beringer can continue to prove he is a fast learner and provide the same level of versatile, energetic defense he has shown in the past.
While there is enough evidence for the Wolves to believe that can happen, Beringer has also struggled to stay out of foul trouble, which isn’t uncommon for young big men in the NBA. And if that continues for Beringer this season, his time on the court could become limited, either for prolonged stretches or perhaps during games. He could struggle with the NBA’s relentless physicality from night to night, and Chris Finch would be forced to sit him on the bench.
Then what?
How could the Wolves compensate for Beringer struggling?
Right now, their options are concerningly limited.
Let’s say Beringer picks up three quick fouls early in a game against a team loaded with size in the frontcourt (like the Thunder in the playoffs), or maybe he misses a few games with a minor injury. Then Minnesota will be down to three players who could back up Gobert:
Trey Lyles — 6’9”
Rocco Zikarsky — 7’3”
Trey Kaufman-Renn — 6’9”
Lyles would be a serviceable option to play small-ball five, but he isn’t necessarily a rim protector, and both Zikarsky and Kaufman-Renn did not look NBA-ready during the Timberwolves’ time in Las Vegas for the Summer League.
During the last two seasons, the Wolves struggled to defend the rim and clean the glass with Reid and Randle together on the court, but at the very least, the two of them supplied Finch with versatile size and length to deploy against larger front courts.
Minnesota’s lack of forward depth has been the talk of the off-season recently. The Wolves do have some versatile length in the guard room. Players such as Terrence Shannon Jr., Josh Green, and Jaylen Clark can help fill in for Reid and Randle at forward. With Ball at the helm, the Wolves would benefit from playing faster this year anyway, so they might be able to get by without having a natural-fitting rotation-level power forward.
It makes sense for the Wolves to enter the season and see if that is the case. But they still have to fill one more roster spot before the year begins, and it might be most valuable for them to acquire a cheap, low-wattage big who can be a presence at the rim to provide them insurance in the event of Beringer struggling or an injury sidelining Gobert.
In my eyes, Minnesota’s overall lack of size is far more concerning than the fact that they don’t have more legitimate, natural power forward depth. If Tim Connelly and his staff feel the same, here are a few names that would provide Finch with some low-end, around-the-rim size:
Tony Bradley | C/F | 6’10” | 28 years old | Solid rebounder over his eight-year career who has a soft touch around the rim.
Drew Eubanks | F/C | 6’10” | 29 years old | Smart operator out of the pick-and-roll and physical low-post presence.
Kelly Olynyk | F/C | 7’0” | 35 years old | Floor spacing threat who has high IQ passing and is rugged defensively.
Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) dribbles the ball past Indiana Pacers center Tony Bradley (13) in the second half at Target Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
None of those signings would be needle movers, but as the Wolves look to fill the rest of their roster with limited avenues to make a trade, players of the caliber of Bradley, Eubanks, and Olynyk are the most likely options. Any of the three would give Minnesota size capable of playing around the rim.
Beringer has given enough reason to believe that he is ready for a spot in the rotation this season, and the Wolves need to see what he can do.
In an ideal world, whoever Connelly signs to his final roster spot will not need to play heavy minutes this season. Still, it would be smart for him to bring in someone with the size capable of backing up Gobert off the bench in the event that Beringer struggles with foul trouble on a game-to-game basis or does not live up to the expectations the Wolves are placing on him this season.
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