The Timberwolves have, once again, seen their top six stars make The Ringer’s updated top-100 list.
Anthony Edwards was easily the biggest winner of the Wolves’ playoff run, quickly becoming a global star that attracted nine-digit social media views on his highlight videos. It wasn’t all just social media hype for Edwards; his performance on the court backed up the growing fame off it.
The 22-year-old led the team in scoring and assists with 27.6 points and 6.5 assists per game while also grabbing 7.0 rebounds per game.
For his efforts, Edwards vaulted up from No. 14 in The Ringer’s previous list to No. 8. Edwards is the youngest player in the top-10 by three years.
“You know how we know the leap is real? Those (Michael) Jordan comps that often get played for laughs don’t seem completely ridiculous anymore,” wrote The Ringer’s Justin Verrier. “The production isn’t quite yet at Mike levels (whose is?), but it’s hard to think of another player this skilled offensively and this gifted athletically who can also turn into a ball hawk on defense virtually at will. The Wolves are Ant’s team now — and it may not be long before the whole league is his, too.”
Wolves big men Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert come in at No. 32 and 34, respectively. While Gobert held onto the No. 34 spot he had in the previous rankings, Towns dropped down five places after an up-and-down playoff run for the Wolves.
“It was, quite literally, the best of Towns and then the worst of Towns,” wrote Verrier. “The four-time All-Star was a force in unseating the defending champion Nuggets, shooting with nearly 50/40/80 efficiency and leveraging his heft to impede Nikola Jokic’s devastating backdowns and allow the Wolves’ swarming defense to crowd in. But he couldn’t hit a shot to save his life in the West finals, drilling a ghastly 24% from 3, including an 0-for-8 stinkfest in Game 3.”
Jaden McDaniels took the biggest leap of any Wolves player, jumping up 11 spots to No. 65.
“McDaniels punched a wall, fractured his hand and wasn’t able to play in last year’s postseason, but against the Suns and Nuggets this year, he showed how dangerous and impactful he can be on both ends in a playoff series,” wrote The Ringer’s Michael Pina. “His on-ball defense on Devin Booker was tremendous in Round 1, and the 44 combined points he scored in Games 6 and 7 against the defending champs were critical to helping Minnesota advance to the Western Conference finals.”
Also climbing The Ringer’s rankings is the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, Naz Reid. The 24-year-old rose up just one spot from the previous rankings, but his No. 79 ranking is six spots higher than where he was at the beginning of the calendar year.
“One of the success stories of the postseason, Reid was the physical, durable, temperature-changing element that gave the Wolves the necessary ferocity to get to the conference finals,” wrote The Ringer’s Chris Ryan. “The Sixth Man of the Year for the 2023-24 season, Reid would probably start for 20 NBA teams, and if he keeps developing as a player, he’ll make it hard for the Timberwolves to keep him out of the starting five for much longer.”
Lastly, veteran point guard Mike Conley dropped one spot to No. 91 in the rankings. Conley averaged 11.6 points, 5.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game during the Wolves’ playoff run.
