Joan Beringer didn’t pick up a basketball until he was 15.

Growing up in France, Beringer loved soccer. However, in 2021, he outgrew his soccer cleats and started playing basketball with his friends. Beringer probably towered over his buddies as he learned how to dribble, shoot, and dunk a basketball. However, none of his friends could have predicted that Joan would be in the NBA four years later.

Beringer was already playing organized basketball a year after outgrowing his cleats. He joined the French Espoirs Elite under-21 team, where he spent two years. In 2024, when Berginer turned 18, he moved to Slovenia by himself, suiting up for Cedevita Olimpija for a year before declaring for the draft.

Beringer’s meteoric rise to the basketball scene caught the Minnesota Timberwolves’ attention. They had scouts monitoring him for years. The Wolves worked him out before the draft at a high school gym in Chicago. After the workout, Tim Connelly knew that Beringer was their guy.

Connelly is managing two timelines this summer. He knew Beringer, 18, was a long-term developmental project when he made the call into the league office to announce Minnesota’s first-round selection. However, the Wolves didn’t draft-and-stash Beringer. They flew him from Brooklyn to Minneapolis, where Beringer began preparing for Summer League this year.

The Timberwolves aren’t expecting Beringer to make an immediate impact. Therefore, their expectations for the teenager entering Summer League were likely pretty reasonable. However, Beringer has never been a slow learner, and that has remained true in Las Vegas.

“He wants to be great,” said Wolves assistant coach Max Lefevre.

“Super receptive to coaching. He’s always asking questions — really good questions. Obviously, [he is] super raw … We just have to make sure we cover the basics first. Especially, with the language. He has no idea what a gap was, or some of these things. … But he is just getting things done with pure talent and athleticism. But again, super receptive to coaching. Super excited to coach him.”

Beringer picked up basketball quickly, but he picked up a new language even quicker. He learned to speak English in roughly eight months, primarily from his teammates in Slovenia.

There’s a language barrier between Beringer and his new teammates and his coaches. Kevin Hanson, Minnesota’s Summer League head coach, has to speak more slowly during timeouts so Beringer can understand, which is challenging. However, actions speak louder and more clearly than words. Certain actions are universal to anyone who has stepped onto a basketball court.

Dégagé is French for “get out,” which Berginer explained to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin during Minnesota’s first Summer League game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Berginer repeatedly — and rather impolitely — told the Pelicans to “get out,” emphatically swatting their shots six times, one under the Summer League record for most blocks in a game.

Hello, Mr. Beringer. pic.twitter.com/2l9ktvWneN

— Charlie Walton (@CharlieWaltonMN) July 10, 2025

Two of Beringer’s six blocks came in the first possession of the game. There was no language barrier then. After Berginer rejected his second consecutive shot, Minnesota’s bench and the Wolves fans in the stands roared. The two blocks were a universal sign of optimism and excitement, both for the fans and for the Timberwolves’ brass sitting courtside.

“He’s been super dynamic,” Chris Finch said. “He’s got such a great feel. You don’t often see somebody who is still that raw but has such a great feel. He’s a quick learner. He’s got an incredible second leap. He goes after everything offensively and defensively. He plays within himself. He’s fun to watch. He’s really making an impact out there.”

To go along with the six rejections, Beringer finished his first Summer League game with 11 points on 5 of 6 shooting, eight rebounds, and two steals. He was a +8 in 23 minutes, being an anchor to Minnesota’s 98-91 win. Beringer never looked like a raw teenage rookie. Instead, he remained under control and played intelligently by defending the rim without fouling.

“I always try to give my maximum,” Beringer said postgame. “I talked with Rob [Dillingham] before the game, and he told me just to enjoy it and to be confident. And that’s what I did, I think.”

Beringer is adjusting to the close-to-NBA-level physicality that the Summer League brings, but playing professionally overseas certainly helped prepare him for that. He has also noticed the increased pace that the NBA playstyle demands. But thankfully for him, Beringer’s foot speed and agility are much faster than a typical seven-footer, thanks to his soccer background.

Nice find-and-finish here from Rob Dillingham and Joan Beringer off the screen and roll. pic.twitter.com/U3IbGwL8RI

— Charlie Walton (@CharlieWaltonMN) July 13, 2025

No matter how fast a learner Beringer is, he will need time to learn all the nuances of being a big man in the NBA. Any rookie does, even those who spent multiple years in college. However, Beringer knows what to do and when to do it — a highly coveted intangible for rookies.

“That’s what it is, just instincts,” said Coach Hanson. “He’s played in Europe — that’s a high level. They’ve taught him well. But he has great timing. He’s always got his hands ready … He just has unbelievable timing. I saw it right off the jump on both ends of the floor, really. His ability to go catch lobs. Good hands. Yeah, that was impressive. Especially going against a starting center in [Yves] Missi, there.”

In his second Summer League game on Saturday against the Denver Nuggets, Beringer again looked far older than his age. He finished with seven points, seven rebounds (five offensive), and three assists in 22 minutes.

“He hasn’t really had a great statistical game thus far — in the second game — but he’s plus [23] right now,” said Wolves general manager Matt Lloyd. “Which means he’s impacted the game when he’s on the floor. Sometimes, that’s all we can expect from a rookie playing in his second Summer League game.”

Beringer only had one block on Saturday, primarily because Minnesota’s perimeter defenders were keeping the Nuggets out of the paint with lock-down point-of-attack defense. Still, when Denver got to the rim, Beringer contested well again without fouling.

“He’s active. He’s very smart,” said Lloyd. “He’s interested in getting better. He’s committed. He’s got great hands. So he’s been really fun to watch through camp and in these first two games.”

Summer League results rarely translate to NBA-level competition right away, given the rigorous 82-game regular season. No matter how many times Berginer tells his opponent to Dégagé in Las Vegas or how many lobs he completes, he will not be in Chris Finch’s rotation come opening night. When the Wolves are fully healthy, Joan will not see many, if any, rotational minutes during his rookie year.

Still, that doesn’t mean Beringer’s performance in Vegas is meaningless.

He hasn’t looked like an 18-year-old who started playing basketball four years ago. Beringer is still learning the nuances of basketball, but his intangibles are already shining through.

In eight months, he learned a new language. In four years, Beringer ditched his soccer cleats for a pair of basketball shoes, learned how to play a new sport, and became a first-round draft pick in that new sport. His play at the Summer League is providing more reason for excitement.

What can he learn in another eight months? What about in four years?