MINNEAPOLIS — The memory sits in the back of Jaden McDaniels’ brain, stuck there like some chicken gristle in his teeth from his favorite plate of fettuccine alfredo. It resurfaces because he is told that Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch believes McDaniels has never been late for a practice, a workout, a meeting or a film session in his six years in the NBA.
“Probably once, for film, my second year, I was probably late,” McDaniels said. “But I don’t show up late. I don’t do that.”
That was four years ago. It was Finch’s first full season as coach. In the ensuing years, the coach has watched McDaniels pour everything he has into his craft, evolving from a 3-and-D specialist who couldn’t really shoot the 3 into what he is now — a top-flight perimeter defender and a versatile and dangerous threat on offense.
McDaniels was at his best on Thursday night against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. He scored 21 points, hit all five of his 3-pointers, dished out four assists and blocked two shots in 31 minutes, most of them spent guarding reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during the Wolves’ 123-11 victory. He only missed three of his 11 shots in the game and committed just three fouls, an important stat for a player who can be prone to ticky-tack calls that get him in foul trouble.
It was the latest impressive outing in what has been a career year for McDaniels. In the previous five seasons, he never averaged more than 12.2 points per game. He made 39.8 percent of his 3s in his third season in 2022-23, but otherwise had been stuck in the low 30s. This season, he is converting 44 percent of his 3s on 3.4 attempts per game.
When Finch thinks about how far McDaniels has come over the last five seasons, the typically even-keeled coach starts to gush.
Finch is a grinder by nature. He took the back roads into the NBA coaching ranks, starting as a player with Division III Franklin & Marshall before cutting his coaching teeth in the basketball desert of England and riding buses through the streets of Belgium and Germany.
The elongated path to his head coaching job, including stints in the G League and 10 years as an NBA assistant, helped define what he respects most in the players he leads. His two favorite qualities are fearlessness and work ethic, and that’s why he has become so enamored by McDaniels.
“He’s an incredible worker,” Finch said. “He’s like a machine every day.”
The panic that everyone has when they are running behind for something important conjured that same feeling for McDaniels when he thought back to the one day that he wasn’t punctual.
“I just probably didn’t wake up in time,” he said. “But I had gear at the crib, and I put that stuff on and ran in to (watch) film.”
That discipline has helped produce one of the best internal talent development stories in Timberwolves history. His offensive game has blossomed in his sixth season, with an off-the-bounce element that wasn’t there in previous years supplementing a 3-point shot that has become remarkably reliable.
“I told him from the previous years, his trey ball was like, super flat,” said Anthony Edwards, who scored 26 points with five rebounds and five assists. “And every time he shoot it now, I think it’s going in. He got a lot of … air under his shot now, and he’s shooting with a lot of confidence.”
It was all on display in front of a national audience on Amazon Prime. On a day in which his name started to surface in trade rumors surrounding Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, McDaniels did not look the least bit distracted. He led one of the most well-rounded team performances of the season for the Wolves, who were playing on the second night of a back-to-back and for the fourth time in five nights.
Six players scored in double figures, including Naz Reid’s 18 points and Rudy Gobert’s 14 points and 11 rebounds.
More importantly, the Wolves rediscovered the stifling defense that has propelled them the last two seasons but was glaringly absent during a five-game losing streak last week. Minnesota feasted on 15 Thunder turnovers, turning them into 30 points. They held OKC to 35 percent shooting from 3 and managed to keep everyone outside of SGA — 30 points, eight assists, six rebounds — from doing too much damage.
The Wolves (30-19) have now won three straight games after that miserable five-game skid and are a half-game behind the Houston Rockets for fourth place in the Western Conference.
The Wolves have been at their best this season when McDaniels is aggressive and involved in the offense. Finch said there are still more shots out there for him to grab, and his ability to bring the ball up the court and find Gobert for lob passes can open up the Wolves’ sluggish offense. His shooting is critical because opponents will often put their worst defenders on him before realizing it’s too late.
“He’s not living and dying with every shot like he used to do,” Finch said. “I think he has great confidence that the ball’s gonna find him, and continue to find him.”
Donte DiVincenzo and Bones Hyland each hit three 3s, Julius Randle compensated for poor shooting (5 of 14) with dogged defense and even Jaylen Clark have a little offensive spark with seven points in nearly 15 minutes.
McDaniels going 5 of 5 from 3-point range is an outlier. The Wolves hit 22 deep shots as a team, but a lot of them came off wide-open looks created by good offense that started with the ball in Edwards’ or Randle’s hands.
“He’s always had it,” said Reid, one of McDaniels’ closest friends on the team. “It’s just he’s gotten more confident to display it and actually get to his spots and do the things that he likes to do to put the ball into the basket.”
The Thunder were without star Jalen Williams and important role players Ajay Mitchell and Alex Caruso, all of whom missed the game with various ailments.
DiVincenzo stole a pass on the first possession of the game. Clark and McDaniels used their strength as much as their speed to stand up to the Thunder, who have shown a knack for playing well when teammates have been down. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting but turned it over five times. Isaiah Joe and Cason Wallace combined to go 3 of 11 from 3.
Just when the introverted McDaniels tried to sneak off into the cold Minnesota night, his loquacious teammate, Edwards, let it be known once again just how much he enjoys having McDaniels as a teammate.
“Like I always say, he’s my favorite player in the league,” Edwards said. “I love everything about Jaden, everything that he does on the court, defensively, offensively, for us as a team, on the bench, he’s always cheering his teammates on no matter how the game goes for him.”
That is an important vote of confidence from the face of the franchise. As the trade winds start to blow through the league, Edwards is standing behind his fellow member of the 2020 draft class. Any deal for Antetokounmpo likely would require McDaniels, either as a centerpiece of a trade package going to the Bucks or headed elsewhere to help the Timberwolves acquire enough draft picks to entice Milwaukee.
Or president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and Finch could decide to keep McDaniels as part of the tight-knit young core that includes Edwards and Reid.
McDaniels may have needed more time than others to fully come into his own as a player, but his emergence as a true two-way force this season is right on time for the Timberwolves.