In an empty arena during the long, cold, COVID-strangled 2020-21 NBA season, jaden mcdaniels was part of a group that looked too young to steady anything. The Minnesota Timberwolves were sliding, the mood around the team was heavy, and even a pizza-and-ice cream gathering at the practice facility could only do so much to reset it.
How did a struggling season become the start of something bigger?
The answer began in small, revealing moments. On Jan. 21, after the Timberwolves let a 20-point lead against the Orlando Magic slip away and fell to 3-10, the losses felt familiar for a franchise that had spent years searching for a way forward. But when team staff reviewed the film, Anthony Edwards, Naz Reid and jaden mcdaniels kept standing out. While more established players were unraveling, the youngest pieces kept playing with a steadiness that suggested the setback was not the whole story.
Edwards, then 19, was inefficient on the night but still influenced the game with his defense and decision-making. Reid, starting in place of Karl-Anthony Towns, added points and outside shooting. McDaniels, who had recently been out of the rotation in several games, finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. More than the box score, it was the composure that mattered. Those inside the organization saw players who did not seem crushed by the collapse around them.
What does the Timberwolves’ young core mean now?
Six seasons later, the same three players are still together, and the scale of their rise is hard to miss. Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid now have contracts that total $500 million guaranteed. The Timberwolves are also on their fifth straight playoff appearance, the third-longest active streak in the league. The story is not just that the team improved; it is that the same trio kept improving together.
That continuity stands out in a league known for turnover. The three have played 382 regular-season games together since uniting in 2020, 113 more than the next closest active trio, Boston’s Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard and Derrick White, Elias Sports Bureau. They have also reached two straight Western Conference finals, a level of success that marks a sharp break from the dysfunction that had long defined the franchise.
Why does jaden mcdaniels keep coming up in this story?
Because his presence helps explain how the Timberwolves moved from uncertainty to stability. In the early scene, jaden mcdaniels was a 20-year-old who had already been in and out of the lineup. Six seasons later, he is part of a core that has stayed intact long enough to matter. McDaniels described that continuity simply: “It’s pretty cool. It’s like going to high school freshman year with your friends and just sticking together the whole way, building each year, ” he said. “Each year we’ve been together, we’ve gotten better and went further (as players) than we have the previous season. ”
A former front-office executive said the early signs were visible even in a painful loss. “Despite Ant shooting poorly, you saw that all of these guys were difference-makers, ” the executive said. “Even with a horrific loss, you saw that there was something. The gym was empty, no one in the world probably saw that game. … In the end, we knew there was something positive. ”
What changed for the team, and what remains unresolved?
The social meaning of the Timberwolves’ rise matters as much as the basketball. In 2020-21, the team was described inside the building as the youngest roster in the league, a group still trying to learn how to connect under strict social distancing. The contrast now is stark: those same players have become a durable core, one that has not just survived pressure but carried it into a sustained run of relevance.
Still, the larger question remains open. The team has moved from empty-arena frustration to playoff consistency, but the league rarely rewards patience for long. For now, though, the image that lingers is the same one from that cold January night: jaden mcdaniels on the floor, not overwhelmed, not shrinking, but part of a group that kept walking forward when everything around it seemed to be falling apart.
Image caption: jaden mcdaniels during the Timberwolves’ rise from a difficult 2020-21 season to sustained playoff contention.
