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These 3 Timberwolves won't be back after another postseason letdown

The Timberwolves have run into another postseason brick wall and will have to consider big changes to their approach for next year.
ByIan Levy|
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Minnesota Timberwolves v San Antonio Spurs - Game Five
Minnesota Timberwolves v San Antonio Spurs - Game Five | Alex Slitz/GettyImages

Key Points

Bullet point summary by AI

  • The Minnesota Timberwolves advanced in the playoffs again but fell short of the NBA Finals for the third straight year.
  • Three key players, including Julius Randle, are unlikely to return, signaling a potential shift in the team's roster strategy.
  • The front office faces tough decisions on contracts and trades to keep pace with rising Western Conference contenders.

The Minnesota Timberwolves won a first-round playoff series for the third consecutive year. And, thanks to the Spurs, their season ended short of the NBA Finals for the third straight year. This team was a longshot from the moment Donte DiVincenzo went down with a torn Achilles, in the first round against the Nuggets but it still feels like they're moving backward.

Remember, they made the Western Conference Finals in each of the last two years. Now they're watching the ascendent Spurs battle the Thunder and being forced to recognize that they aren't ready to compete at the same level. If Minnesota wants to keep pace with Oklahoma City and San Antonio, and all the other fringe contenders in the West, they may need to consider some wholesale changes to the core that has gotten them this far. Even if they don't take big swings, these three players likely won't be back next season.

Kyle Anderson

Anderson has had two different stints with the Timberwolves, stretched over three seasons, and played for four different teams in the interim. This speaks to where he is in his career — an established veteran with some utility but not enough to permanently hold a spot in a rotation.

He's now 32-years-old, still a solid defender with some versatility and can do a bit of ball-handling and playmaking on offense from the frontcourt. Anderson is also a complete non-factor from beyond the arc, attempting just 11 3s in 853 minutes this season, which makes him hard to play with other non-shooting frontcourt players like Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle. (Which is one of the reasons he played just 61 minutes in eight playoff games this year). He's an unrestricted free agent and it's hard to imagine the Timberwolves investing in bringing him back.

Bones Hyland

Bones Hyland Minnesota Timberwolves
Bones Hyland Minnesota Timberwolves | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Hyland gave the Wolves some serious bench scoring juice this season, appearing in 71 games for the Wolves, scoring double-figures 27 times and shooting 38.8 percent from beyond the arc. However, his shooting percentages cratered in the playoffs and his minutes dropped as Minnesota tightened the rotation. Even with Donte DiVincenzo out of the lineup, head coach Chris Finch clearly trusted Ayo Dosunmu, Terrence Shannon and Mike Conley more.

Conley says he wants to come back next year and Dosunmu's two-way impact was impressive enough to be worth investing in. Hyland was hovering on the fringe of the league before this season but has really rehabilitated his image after this year. He'll be a free agent, looking to cash in, and it seems likely he could find more money and more minutes somewhere else.

DiVincenzo may miss the entire season but Anthony Edwards, Conley, Dosunmu and Shannon make for a solid guard rotation and they have the No. 28 pick in the draft if they feel like they need more help there.

Julius Randle

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Randle is the biggest question for the Timberwolves. McDaniels, Gobert and Edwards are essential and, as well as he played at times this regular season, Randle is still an odd fit. His complementary playmaking was really helpful in certain matchups but his weak 3-point shooting and defensive issues give opponents places to attack at both ends. In the 2025 playoffs, he played as well as the Timberwolves could have possible hoped and it wasn't enough.

This season, Randle shot under 40 percent from the field and 30 percent from beyond the arc in the postseason and just didn't make his presence felt at either end against the Spurs. It wasn't enough when he was playing at his best and, at 31-years-old, the Timberwolves should probably expect future postseason performances to be more in line with this than his elite numbers in 2025.

The problem is that Randle has one more year on his deal, and then a player option for the year after that, both at more than $30 million per year. There may not be a lot of teams interested in him, anbd the list is even shorter if you filter out teams that can't accomodate his salary or offer the Wolves something they actually need.

The most obvious exception would be the Bucks and Giannis. Randle's salary gets them a little over halfway to matching Giannis — they'd probably need to throw in Naz Reid or Rudy Gobert or Jaden McDaniels, and then put almost all their available picks on the table. They'll be bidding against like half the league in any Giannis deal but this one potential use for Randle that makes a lot of sense. After that it's shakier hypotheticals like Brandon Ingram, Tyler Herro, Jalen Green, De'Andre Hunter.

There are no easy answers but if the Timberwolves are serious about taking the next step they have to sift through every possible trade return for Julius Randle and seriously consider if taking a risk is better than the status quo.

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