Timberwolves 2026-27 NBA season predictions after schedule release

The Minnesota Timberwolves have consistently been one of the best teams in the NBA over the past three seasons. In fact, they made it to two consecutive Western Conference Finals (2024 and 2025), and they made it out of the first round yet again last year, only to fall to the eventual West champion San Antonio Spurs.

Suffice to say, the Timberwolves could have simply just run it back, and they would have been on their way to another successful season in which they most certainly would have won around 50 games. But the Timberwolves brass decided to change course, shapeshifting from a supersized team that can beat others to submission to a full-blown run-and-gun team that aims to stretch their opponents’ defense thin for 48 minutes.

They dumped Julius Randle’s salary to the Brooklyn Nets and gave up Naz Reid in a trade to acquire LaMelo Ball, giving Anthony Edwards an All-Star-caliber running mate in the backcourt for the first time in his career.

There are plenty of question marks remaining for the Timberwolves, particularly their power forward situation. As things stand, Jaden McDaniels is their nominal starting power forward, which may not be ideal when considering defensive matchups.

Whatever the case may be, the release of the 2026-27 NBA schedule is certainly drumming up some interest in the start of the regular season, which would be in around two months’ time. It will be interesting to see how the new-look Timberwolves perform and if they can get over the hump in a loaded West.

The Timberwolves finish with a top-five offense

Basketball is, fundamentally, the same sport regardless of how you slice it, but NBA teams play differently in the playoffs than they do in the regular season. In the regular season, consistency and durability is key, and sticking to an identity on both ends of the floor is a must. The Timberwolves have that in spades.

There isn’t much reason to think that the Timberwolves are going to decline defensively even after gutting their frontcourt. Rudy Gobert is still here, and ever since Gobert became a full-time starter in the NBA (since the 2015-16 season), his teams have only slipped out of the top-10 in defensive rating once (during the 2019-20 campaign with the Utah Jazz).

Having Gobert and McDaniels as the defensive spine of this team definitely gave the front office so much confidence that they can downsize and not skip a beat on that end of the floor.

The arrival of Ball, without a doubt, boosts the Timberwolves’ offense considerably. Ball is an offensive system onto himself, and he’s teaming up with the most talented teammate he’s had in his career in Edwards.

The Charlotte Hornets finished last season fifth in offensive rating, thanks to Ball’s relentlessness in pushing the pace, ability to produce with volume from beyond the arc, and his unselfishness should help bring out the best in his All-NBA backcourt mate.

Having Ayo Dosunmu for the entire season should also help the Timberwolves lean even more into the breakneck pace that should make them incredibly successful next season. Bones Hyland, Terrence Shannon Jr., Josh Green and Jaylen Clark are all road runners as well.

The Timberwolves had the highest pace in the playoffs last year, and they are exchanging Randle’s more methodical playstyle with the helter-skelter pace that Ball and Dosunmu play with. The postseason was a glimpse of how Minnesota would play moving forward, and they have all the tools to make the most out of that style.

It will take a lot for Minnesota to improve from the 13th-best offense last year to the top five, but Ball is simply that good.

Timberwolves trade for Jarred Vanderbilt

It just makes so much sense, financially-speaking and roster-wise, for the Timberwolves to do a straight swap with the Los Angeles Lakers involving Green and Jarred Vanderbilt.

Perhaps the Timberwolves are more than willing to head into the 2026-27 season with Trey Lyles as their primary backup option at the four. Lyles can even make some open threes, and he can slide up a position on small-ball units. But Minnesota is in need of more positional flexibility. They are asking plenty of their players to move up a position, and at its core, basketball is still a sport where size reigns supreme.

Vanderbilt is familiar with head coach Chris Finch’s system, his offensive limitations aren’t very pronounced on a team that wants to play fast, and he can be an irritant for the team off the bench. And Edwards loves Vanderbilt, having spent the first two seasons of their career with each other.

Vando is a fan favorite among Timberwolves supporters as well, so they have that as a bonus if they manage to trade for him.

Anthony Edwards makes All-NBA First Team

Having an elite offensive floor general can make life so much easier for other superstars. The Hornets may have underrated how much easier Ball made it for the likes of Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller. Ball’s ball-handling and playmaking generated so many advantages on offense, creating so much space for his teammates to work with.

Ball is going to be the best playmaker Edwards has played with, and that is not a slight whatsoever to D’Angelo Russell and an older Mike Conley. And with the pace Minnesota is going to be playing with, Edwards might be a lock to average over 30 points next season. That should be enough to win over voters as he takes Cade Cunningham’s place on the All-NBA First Team.