3 Minnesota Timberwolves Under the Most Pressure This Season

This summer Edwards got the opportunity to play with LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry during the Olympics. That experience could prove to be invaluable if he takes the lessons and traits he learned alongside of those stars and translates them to his game.

Edwards was named All-NBA for the first time last season. His 25.9 points per game was a career-best. That is a strong start, but where he goes from here will largely determine the outcome for Minnesota this year.

Timberwolves need the best of Rudy Gobert

Last season the Minnesota Timberwolves got close to a full slate from Rudy Gobert. Towns still missed some time, but the acquired big man was a defensive stalwart en route to his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award. Gobert is not a massive offensive threat, but he will need to take on a greater role with Towns no longer down in the post.

It is imperative that Gobert finds a way to quickly mesh with newly acquired big man Julius Randle. The former Knicks star is a different talent than Towns, and finding a rhythm took a while when Gobert came over in the first place. There will be some growing pains, but the more the incumbent can limit them, the better.

Gobert has yet to make an All-Star team with the Timberwolves. Although that isn’t a gold standard in terms of performance evaluation, this year would be as good of a time as any.

Julius Randle is the key from Minnesota’s trade

The Timberwolves largely traded Towns to escape luxury tax implications . That said, they did well to receive a pair of talented players in return. Donte DiVincenzo is going to be expected to score, but All-Star Julius Randle must do the heavy lifting.

Randle averaged 24.0 points per game last season, just shy of his career-high 25.1 points per game the year prior. He isn’t the three-point threat that Towns was for Minnesota, but the big man needs to show up plenty in the box score. There are a ton of minutes to be covered, and Edwards will need scoring help after losing the team’s second option.

Chris Finch may need to rework the offense in an effort to play into Randle’s strengths. Still, there is plenty of room for Randle to emerge with his new team. The Timberwolves can’t afford him to be timid in achieving those results.