Timberwolves players who will shock NBA world with breakout 2026-27 season appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been one of the best teams in the NBA over the past three seasons; they made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2024 and 2025 and may have gotten back there this year if it weren’t for the San Antonio Spurs. But the Timberwolves chose to be proactive instead of running it back.
They decided to remodel their team; they went from a supersized outfit that boasted talented big men such as Julius Randle and Naz Reid to a team that will go on transition in every opportunity — with floor general LaMelo Ball now on the roster.
Ball fills the Timberwolves’ need for a natural point guard; they had to share playmaking duties last season among the likes of Anthony Edwards, Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and Ayo Dosunmu. Now, Ball is allowing Edwards and the rest of the team to slot into roles they’re more comfortable in. Edwards, in particular, looks rejuvenated in preseason.
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The acquisition of Ball should have a positive ripple effect down the roster, priming a few Timberwolves players to perhaps have the best season of their careers.
These three players, in particular, could be in line for big breakout campaigns now that they have Ball, the conductor of the league’s fifth-best offense last season based on offensive rating, at the controls.
Jaden McDaniels could make an All-Star leap
When the Timberwolves threw their hat in the ring of the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, it was interesting that they would have had to trade away Jaden McDaniels to get that deal over the line. McDaniels has been one of the best defenders in the NBA, and he was part of the team’s defensive spine. Losing him would have been heartbreaking, no matter how good Antetokounmpo is.
Nonetheless, that trade did not materialize anyway. The Timberwolves instead traded away most of their valuable assets to bring in Ball, making McDaniels all the more important to the team’s contending hopes.
With Ball now on the roster and Reid and Randle gone, the Timberwolves need McDaniels to be a two-way force on the wing — helping out on the glass all while taking on the assignment of guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player.
Moreover, the Timberwolves are losing 34.7 points per game with the two big men gone. DiVincenzo is also going to be out for the foreseeable future, making it so that Minnesota will have to replace 46.9 points per contest. It’s not like Ball will be tasked on his own to replace that kind of production.
McDaniels is looking like a major candidate to take on more usage. Last season, he took a major step up on offense, averaging a career-high 14.8 points per game on career-best shooting splits of 52/41/84. That also came on a career-best usage of 18.5%.
McDaniels’ most recent preseason outing may have been a preview of what’s to come for this season. In 24 minutes of play, McDaniels put up 22 points on 8-12 shooting from the field and 4-5 from beyond the arc. He was brimming with confidence, and considering his mental makeup, he should relish the chance to be more involved in the Timberwolves’ fast-paced offense for this upcoming campaign.
It’s not too far-fetched for McDaniels’ production this upcoming season to be more in line with someone like OG Anunoby’s; Anunoby averaged 17-5-2 last season, and those numbers could have pushed up if it weren’t for the fact that he’s playing for a stacked New York Knicks team.
The 26-year-old combo forward is hitting his peak, and with Ball now around, he’s about to get even cleaner looks from the field.
With the uptick in pace the Timberwolves are about to play with, an improvement in the shot quality that McDaniels will get, and fewer mouths to feed giving him more touches, it’s not a stretch at all to see him average close to 18 or 19 points per game for this upcoming season, all while providing his customary across-the-board production.
Can Jonathan Kuminga commit to being a role player?
The reality of his role in the NBA appears to have dawned on Kuminga. He may have dreamt of being a go-to-guy with the Golden State Warriors, and he can certainly play that role in a pinch. But for him to stick on a winning team in the NBA, he needs to commit to doing the dirty work — defending, rebounding, and simply letting the game come to him on offense.
There was a glimpse of that version of Kuminga during his brief cameo on the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks called upon him to defend Karl-Anthony Towns during their first-round series against the Knicks, and he also didn’t force the issue on offense; he averaged 20 points during Atlanta’s two wins in the series before struggling with his shooting as the Hawks lost their final three games of the season.
Kuminga signed with the Timberwolves knowing all too well that he wasn’t going to be a very featured offensive weapon. Ball and Edwards run the show in Minneapolis, and Kuminga has to respect that. They also had a void at power forward, and Kuminga has shown that he can fill that role if he commits himself to actually doing the little things that contribute to winning.
The 24-year-old forward also signed a two-year, $12.4 million contract with the Timberwolves, with a player option worth around $6.4 million for the 2027-28 campaign. For him to cash in and sign a big-money contract, he’ll have to show out for Minnesota.
With that chip on his shoulder, Kuminga could be in for a big season, especially in Minnesota’s freewheeling system.
Ayo Dosunmu should keep it going
Dosunmu was so impressive during the 2026 NBA playoffs, especially in the first round against the Denver Nuggets. He put up 21.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game, and he even put up a 43-point outing off the bench in Game 4 to give the Timberwolves a commanding 3-1 lead in that series.
The Timberwolves rewarded him with a five-year, $112 million contract, and it’s hard to say he doesn’t deserve it. Dosunmu surely helped convince the front office that making a more concerted effort to play breakneck basketball is the way to maximize the talent on the roster, and doing so for the entire season should help boost his production even further.
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