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The Minnesota Timberwolves look like championship contenders again

The Wolves are fully healthy and appear to be clicking at the right time. Watch out, Western Conference.

Mar 12, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid (11) celebrates his three point score with guard Donte DiVincenzo (0) in the second half against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena.

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Minnesota Timberwolves

So much of this Minnesota Timberwolves season has been defined by inconsistency. Early on, it was evident that adjusting from Karl-Anthony Towns to Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo was going to take some time. Then, just when the Wolves seemed to be figuring things out a bit, injuries to both newcomers and Rudy Gobert forced them to adapt on the fly. Coming into March, this streaky, rollercoaster team had lost at least two games in a row as often as it had won at least two in a row (nine times each).

But at this very moment, the Wolves appear to have turned a corner. After demolishing the Nuggets 115-95 in Denver on Wednesday night, Minnesota is starting to look like a legitimate NBA championship contender again. They're back to full health, with eight starting-caliber players who bring different skill sets on both ends of the floor. They've won a season-high six games in a row, including three road wins over teams who made the playoffs last year. And in doing so, they've shown a lot of signs of being a team no one is going to want to face in a seven-game series.

The player at the heart of this recent surge has been Randle, who was the centerpiece of the KAT return in the shocking blockbuster trade that happened just before the season began. Early this season, Towns was thriving in New York and Randle was struggling to fit in with the Wolves, making him an easy target for criticism. His stickiness with the ball on offense and lapses in effort on defense were legitimate issues at times, which is why many fans were hoping to see him moved before the trade deadline.

In late January, Randle appeared to be finding his stride before suffering a groin injury that caused him to miss 13 games. Since coming back, he's been even better. Prior to the Nuggets game, Randle had at least nine assists and seven rebounds in three consecutive contests; his ability to collapse the defense and kick the ball out to open shooters is becoming a real weapon for the Wolves. In Denver, he imposed his wall as a scorer, putting up an easy 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including three makes from beyond the arc. The Wolves have now won 11 consecutive games with Randle in the lineup. He's playing decisively with the ball and fitting in like a glove.

"He's been such a great playmaker for us, but he has the ability to go get a bucket when we give him the ball," head coach Chris Finch said. "He had a great game tonight. Shot the ball well, was really decisive, finished well around the hoop. ... He really took it to the basket and put a lot of pressure on them."

Donte DiVincenzo steal, Julius Randle transition 3 pic.twitter.com/XIW5mH2B6L

— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) March 13, 2025

This version of Randle is the one the Wolves were excited about landing in the Towns trade and the one who has made two All-NBA teams in his career. He's a legitimate triple double threat who can bully his way to the rim or hit turnaround midrange shots if left on an island. And when the defense commits, he has the vision to find the open man. Randle is a below-average three-point shooter, but he's not incapable of hitting them if left alone. And he doesn't have to hit very many threes to function effectively as Minnesota's No. 2 offensive option alongside Anthony Edwards.

Edwards cruised to 29 points against the Nuggets and restored his league lead with 262 made three-pointers this season. He's an electrifying scorer and ultimate competitor who is the main reason why the Wolves believe they can beat anybody they'll see in the playoffs. But he and Randle also have quite a bit of help.

Jaden McDaniels is continuing to play the best basketball of his career. Rudy Gobert is back and made Nikola Jokic work hard to get to 34-8-4 on Wednesday. Naz Reid, Donte DiVincenzo, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker provide firepower and ball movement off the bench. Even Mike Conley, amid a down season at 37 years old, has been impacting winning quite a bit lately. Beyond that eight-man rotation, Chris Finch can — as needed — turn to a lockdown defender like Jaylen Clark or a transition menace like Terrence Shannon Jr. for short spurts.

The Wolves' offense has been a thing of beauty lately. But it's been the return to their 2023-24 level of defense that stands out as a major reason for optimism heading down the stretch. They made things extremely difficult for the Nuggets with their activity level and cohesiveness on that end of the floor, holding Denver to 40 percent shooting from the field. They've now won five consecutive games against the Nuggets dating back to last year's playoffs, and they seem to have almost established a psychological edge in that matchup, but the return to a tenacious defensive identity will serve Minnesota well against every opponent.

We know what Gobert, McDaniels, Alexander-Walker, and Edwards are capable of doing defensively, but DiVincenzo has really added quite a bit in that regard as well, and Clark is available whenever another perimeter defensive stalwart is needed.

"We're spoiled for choice, we really are," Finch said. "Particularly with Nickeil and Jaylen now and Donte, everybody has a strength. We try to mix it up, we try not to give anyone the same guy all the time."

It's all coming together very nicely for the Timberwolves at the right time. At 38-29, they're essentially tied with the Warriors for the sixth seed in the West and are just 4.5 games back of the Grizzlies and Nuggets, who are tied for the second seed. With Minnesota possessing the softest remaining schedule in the conference, things could get very interesting if they continue to play like this over the final 15 games. They're about to kick off a five-game homestand that could allow them to keep this winning streak alive and creep up the standings.

The Wolves are up to eighth in net rating this season. They're tenth in offensive rating and sixth on defense, joining only the Thunder, Cavaliers, and Celtics — the clear top tier in the NBA this season — as teams in the top ten on both ends. They're balanced, they're deep, and they're finally starting to look like a team that could get back to the Western Conference Finals in a couple months.

"We have confidence no matter who we step out and play," Finch said. "We've said this before, but sometimes the only team that we really fear is ourselves. Feels like we're through some inconsistencies. It doesn't mean we're not capable of having a bad game here, but it feels like our habits and our approach is way more consistent and way more where it needs to be."