The 2025-26 NBA season is here! We’re rolling out our previews — examining the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and win projections for all 30 franchises — from the still-rebuilding teams to the true title contenders.
2024-25 finish
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Record: 49-33 (sixth in the West, lost to the Thunder in the Western Conference finals)
Offseason moves
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Subtractions: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Luka Garza, Josh Minott
Anthony Edwards finished seventh in MVP voting last season. (Stefan Milic/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
The Big Question: Is Anthony Edwards prepared for an MVP leap?
The Timberwolves have made consecutive conference finals appearances for the first time in franchise history, establishing themselves among the NBA’s power players. They are led by a 24-year-old Anthony Edwards, so they should not be going anywhere anytime soon, but the status quo is not good enough.
The goal for any team is to win the championship, and it should be no different in Minnesota, where they can boast that Edwards is a top-five player — exactly the kind of performer a team needs to win the title. He has finished top-seven in MVP voting and made the All-NBA second team each of the past two years.
He is right there on the precipice.
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Only, it has not been good enough. The Wolves eventually ran into teams led by better players, losing to Luka Dončić’s Dallas Mavericks in 2024 and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Oklahoma City Thunder in 2025.
The Wolves need Edwards to be the best player on the floor in every series, and there is a real chance he could be. He averaged a career-high 27.6 points per game on 45/40/84 shooting splits last season, adding 5.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. The game’s best are more efficient scorers or playmakers or both.
The Wolves actually performed 0.6 points per 100 possessions better when Edwards was off the court last season, which should not happen for a great player. Edwards should be impacting the game on both ends of the floor in a way that elevates his teammates, which he did for the most part in the playoffs, as Minnesota was 5.1 points per 100 possessions better in the postseason when he was on the court.
Edwards struggled at times with double teams last season, expressing his frustration publicly, and that is not what a winner needs from its best player, either. The Wolves need Edwards to have seen every coverage and have a solution each time, which comes with more seasoning. This is Year 6 for him.
Remember: Edwards is only 24, and it is not usually until around ages 26 or 27 that superstars come into their own as champions. LeBron James and Michael Jordan are prime examples. Same goes for Jayson Tatum and Gilgeous-Alexander. We can imagine how good Edwards could be in a couple of years.
But the Timberwolves are prepared to win now. Their All-Defensive center, Rudy Gobert, is 33 years old. Their point guard, Mike Conley, is 37. Julius Randle, their inconsistent co-star, turns 31 in November. They feature a 25-year-old Jaden McDaniels, a 26-year-old Naz Reid and recent first-round picks Rob Dillingham, Terrence Shannon Jr. and Joan Beringer, but the core of this team is prepared to contend now.
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It certainly is being paid that way.
How quickly Minnesota must pivot to a new plan depends on how quickly Edwards can establish himself as capable of being the best player in any series. If he is ready to make the leap this season, the Wolves have to be prepared to meet him at this moment. Is this the roster to do it? Do they need another piece?
Do not act too soon, for sacrificing assets when Edwards is not prepared is a fool’s errand. One would like to see him take a step forward this season, but if he doesn’t make the full leap, will Gobert, Conley and Randle fall a step behind? If Edwards is not ready, it may be time to plan for two years from now, when he should be, and that could mean a culture shift toward the younger core — and veterans on the move.
Best-case scenario
Edwards makes the full leap, establishing himself as a serious MVP candidate. Randle’s inconsistency yields one of his better seasons. Gobert is Gobert. Conley is Conley. McDaniels rises along with Edwards. One of, if not all of, Dillingham, Shannon and Beringer show real promise as potential impact playoff guys, masking the departure of Nickeil Alexander-Walker. And the Wolves are capable of winning the West.
If everything falls apart
Edwards shows little signs of progress as a playmaker. Randle endures one of his tottering seasons. That in itself could be enough to drop the Timberwolves a tier below the West’s elite, especially as the Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets have improved. It might be time to consider trading Gobert, if there are any takers, embracing Reid as the center of the future and building for the time when Edwards is ready.
2025-26 schedule
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Season opener: Oct. 22 at Portland
Edwards has manned a team that has won 105 games over the past two seasons, and this year the Timberwolves will have another season of continuity between him and Randle. The young guys are good. The old guys are still good. Take the over. While you’re at it, maybe even take a long shot bet on Edwards as the MVP.
More season previews
East: Atlanta Hawks • Boston Celtics • Brooklyn Nets • Charlotte Hornets • Chicago Bulls • Cleveland Cavaliers • Detroit Pistons • Indiana Pacers • Miami Heat • Milwaukee Bucks • New York Knicks • Orlando Magic • Philadelphia 76ers • Toronto Raptors • Washington Wizards
West: Dallas Mavericks • Denver Nuggets • Golden State Warriors • Houston Rockets • Los Angeles Clippers • Los Angeles Lakers • Memphis Grizzlies • Minnesota Timberwolves • New Orleans Pelicans • Oklahoma City Thunder • Phoenix Suns • Portland Trail Blazers • Sacramento Kings • San Antonio Spurs • Utah Jazz
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