“They got KD, but we got Jaden McDaniels.” — Anthony Edwards, in 2023. He was right.
It was 2023 when Anthony Edwards may not have known that he was predicting the future.
In an interview during All-Star week last year, the Minnesota Timberwolves star remarked, “They got KD, but we got Jaden McDaniels.”
KD would of course be Kevin Durant, and before you think that’s just Ant hyping up his T-Wolves teammate, maybe Edwards knew that in Game 2 of the Wolves’ playoff series against the Phoenix Suns, McDaniels would explode for 25 points, outplaying Durant (6-of-15 for 18 points).
The clip went viral on Tuesday night, and fans talked about a ton it during the win on X (formerly Twitter):
Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels are two of the best defensive players in the NBA.
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The Minnesota Timberwolves will not have Rudy Gobert or Jaden McDaniels when they face the Los Angeles Lakers in the play-in tournament.
Gobert will serve a team-issued one-game suspension after punching teammate Kyle Anderson during the final game of Minnesota’s regular season. McDaniels is out indefinitely due to a fractured right hand he suffered after punching a wall during the same game.
This is a golden opportunity for the Lakers, who will now have a home game on Tuesday against the shorthanded Timberwolves. If they are able to win the match, they will officially earn the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference and advance to the playoffs to face the Memphis Grizzlies.
Gobert is one of the league’s best rim protectors and McDaniels is one of the NBA’s most promising young perimeter defenders.
According to matchup data provided by NBA.com, dating back to the 2018-19 season, only eight players have defended Anthony Davis more often than Gobert. Meanwhile, per data from NBA.com, only six players recorded more possessions defending LeBron James in 2022-23.
James was just 5-for-16 (31.3 percent) on possessions when McDaniels was credited as the nearest defender. He averaged 21.4 points per 100 possessions on these opportunities, which was significantly worse than his average (38.6) this season.
Minnesota allowed an additional 3.82 points per 100 when Gobert and McDaniels were off the floor relative to when they played, via PBPStats. These absences are both incredibly costly for the Timberwolves.
Los Angeles can still make the playoffs even if they lose to Minnesota on Tuesday, but the path becomes much harder. They would face the winner of the New Orleans Pelicans vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder, which means one of those teams would come in hungry after securing a win.
Ultimately, after a roller-coaster ride of a regular season, the Lakers need to take advantage of the gift-wrapped opportunity they were given against the Timberwolves.
The Tip-Off
(Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
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Shortly after Rudy Gobert punched Kyle Anderson, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green posted the exact same tweet that the Minnesota big man sent after the Jordan Poole punch:
“Some people may have forgotten about the tweet, but Green did not.
Green tweeted the same message Gobert shared in October.
Green can famously recite the names of all 34 players who were selected before him in the 2014 NBA Draft. So it shouldnât surprise us that he has a strong enough memory to recall what people said about him following his fight with Poole.”
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch suggested that “immaturity” has plagued his team throughout the entire season.Â
Despite actually defeating the Pelicans, the Minnesota Timberwolves had a disastrous final game of the regular season.
Minnesota big man Rudy Gobert was sent home at halftime after an altercation with teammate Kyle Anderson during the second quarter of the game.
But not long before the feud on the bench between Gobert and Anderson, Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels expressed his frustration after he picked up his second foul by punching a wall.
McDaniels missed the remainder of the game with the self-inflicted injury to his hand, and if that sounds bad, it is even more painful when you actually watch the video of him hurting himself.
Jaden McDaniels punched a wall on the way to the locker room đŹ
Re: Jaden McDaniel: Time lost for hand fractures depends on the bone(s) broken and the subsequent treatment options (ie. surgery) but any type of fracture is a major setback. The average time lost for isolated metacarpal fractures that require surgery is 41 days (~18 games).
During the post-game press conference, Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch suggested that “immaturity” has plagued his team throughout the entire season.
McDaniels’ injury is perhaps the most costly example of that immaturity.
There are only a handful of players who had more possessions defending LeBron James than McDaniels had this season, per NBA.com. Now, the Timberwolves will have to face LeBron’s Lakers without their strongest perimeter defender.
The Timberwolves earned a big win over the Pelicans, and nobody seemed happier about it than Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards.
After the game, Edwards was asked about the performance of his teammate Jaden McDaniels. With a big smile on his face, Edwards proceeded to rattle off every nickname under the sun for McDaniels.
McDaniels earned the praise after he hit a clutch 18-footer with 2:28 remaining in the fourth quarter and then a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer with 1:24 left on the clock.
Edwards responded by calling the forward nicknames including Super Big, Big Dog, J-Mac, Tall J-Mac, and Slim. Edwards emphasized that no matter what you want to call the former Washington standout, just remember one thing: He is HIM.
McDaniels recently told HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto that he feels he could be one of the best two-way players in the NBA. He is averaging a career-high 11.5 points per game while also shooting a personal-best 39.4 percent on his 3-pointers.
He ranks fourth-best in total 3-pointers contested and opponents are shooting just 51.3 percent against him at the rim. Per PBPStats, that ranks fifth-best among the 72 players who have defended the most field-goal attempts at the rim.
Two nights after an admirable NBA debut, former Notre Dame standout guard [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] was ready for his second professional game. This one did not go as planned. During the second quarter of the San Antonio Spurs’ game with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the rookie banged knees with Jaden McDaniels and went down. As he was fouled on the play, he shot free throws, but that was followed by him limping badly while trying to get back on defense, and he left the game for good shortly after.
According to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, X-rays taken on Wesley’s knee came back negative. While that surely is good news, it will be a situation worth monitoring in the coming days, and the Spurs will need him. Before being forced to leave, Wesley scored six points and grabbed two rebounds in eight minutes. Here’s hoping this is a minor setback during a solid first NBA season.
Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment: It is legitimately so much more fun to overreact than it is to be reasonable.
So now that the 2022-23 NBA regular season has begun, we can look at some of the first games and get way too excited about things that may not mean all that much.
As players get adjusted to a new campaign, it is fairly common for some very wonky stuff to happen within the first few games of the season. While it isn’t likely that some of these hot starts are sustainable, it always enjoyable to take a minute to acknowledge some of those performances.
These could mean nothing, but who knows, maybe they represent some sort of breakout seasons for some of these players as well.
You remember the rules of the game hot potato from when you were a kid.
The ball acted as a potato that was just removed from the pot, and you had to pretend that it was absolutely scorching hot. When the “potato” was passed to you, rather than “burning” your hands, you simply had to pass it to someone else as fast as you could.
Why are we talking about hot potato right now? Well, I’m going to show you a highlight from a preseason NBA game. But first, turn on whatever childlike wonder you have within you for a second, and imagine these two players are playing hot potato.
After the Timberwolves scored on the Lakers during their preseason game in Los Angeles on Oct. 12, Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels tossed the ball back to Russell Westbrook so he could throw the inbound pass to his teammates.
But for whatever reason, as tempers flared, Westbrook decided that he didn’t want the ball at that moment. For my own amusement, I have to imagine that this had something to do with a very sudden but inescapable urge to play hot potato in front of a crowd.
McDaniels, even though he isn’t Westbrook’s teammate, was super down to clown. Within an instant of receiving the ball from Westbrook, he fired that thing right back to the former NBA MVP.
Westbrook wasn’t going to let McDaniels win at a game of hot potato, so he threw the ball to the Minnesota forward one last time before referees finally intervened — and essentially declared Westbrook the winner.
The Timberwolves won the game, but I want to extend a massive congrats to Russ, because he got the victory where it mattered the most.
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Cade Cunningham was named MVP of the NBA Rising Stars game to lead Team Barry to the championship and tip off All-Star Weekend.
Detroit Pistons rookie Cade Cunningham on Friday was named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA Rising Stars game to lead Team Barry to the championship and tip off All-Star Weekend from Cleveland, Ohio.
Cunningham recorded five points, including a huge 3-pointer late, three assists and two rebounds in the final game over Team Isiah. He scored a team-high 13 points, six assists and five rebounds to lead Team Barry in the semifinal round versus Team Payton.
Orlando Magic rookie Franz Wagner sent Team Barry to the win after hitting his first free throw to cross the 25-point threshold to win. The teams played to 50 points in the semifinal round and 25 points in the final to commemorate the 75th-anniversary season of the NBA.
Here is how each player and team fared in the competition.
The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the 28 players set to participate in the Rising Stars game during All-Star Weekend.
The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the list of 28 players set to participate in the annual Rising Stars game on Feb. 18 as part of All-Star Weekend in Cleveland, Ohio.
The showcase game will feature four seven-player teams competing in a mini-tournament consisting of three games. Each game will be played to a final target score, meaning that a game will end with a made basket or a made free throw instead of a running clock.
The semifinal games will be played to a final target score of 50 with the final game being played to 25, for a total of 75 points across the semifinal and final to celebrate the leagueâs 75th anniversary season.
The pool of 28 players for the game consists of 12 first-year players, 12 second-year players and four players from the NBA G League Ignite. The rookies and sophomores were selected by assistant coaches and the Ignite players were chosen by G League head coaches.
The teams will be coached by members of the NBAâs 75th-anniversary team. The coaches will select their rosters in a Rising Stars draft with each team consisting of seven players, including one from the Ignite. The details of the coaches and draft will be announced at a later date.
TNT will televise the competition beginning at 9 p.m. EST.
On Wednesday, the Timberwolves signed first-round picks Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels to their rookie contracts.
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On Wednesday, the Minnesota Timberwolves signed first-round picks Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels to their rookie contracts, the team announced in a press release.
Edwards, the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft, was named the SEC Freshman of the Year after averaging 19.1 points and 5.2 rebounds in 32 games at Georgia. He also shot 40.2% from the field, including 29.4% from 3-point range.
The 19-year-old was the second No. 1 pick in Timberwolves history, joining Karl-Anthony Towns, who was the top selection in 2015. He became the second Bulldogs player to be selected in the top five, joining Dominique Wilkins, who was the third pick in 1983.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves acquired McDaniels, the 28th pick, from the Oklahoma City Thunder along with Ricky Rubio in exchange for the draft rights to No. 17 overall pick Aleksej PokuĹĄevski and forward James Johnson.
McDaniels averaged 13 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 blocks last season at Washington while shooting 33.9% from 3-point range. He was the only player in any of the major conferences to average at least 1.4 blocks and 1.4 3-pointers made per game.
The two players figure to give the Timberwolves additional weapons next to Towns and D’Angelo Russell next season as the team attempts to return to the playoffs.
Minnesota begins preseason play on Dec. 12 vs. the Memphis Grizzlies.
