There is a game that will significantly impact the course of the Timberwolves’ postseason on Sunday night.

And it does not involve Minnesota.

While the Wolves’ regular-season finale against New Orleans will serve as a homecoming for Kevin Garnett, and little more, the consequential action will occur in San Antonio.

The Spurs host the Nuggets in a game that will likely determine who is the No. 3 seed in the West and, thus, is Minnesota’s first-round opponent.

Should the Nuggets win, Minnesota and Denver will meet for the third time in four postseasons. But if Denver falls and the Lakers top Utah — an expected result given the tanking Jazz’s lack of incentive to win — Los Angeles will reclaim the No. 3 seed, setting up a first-round rematch from a year ago, won in five games by Minnesota.

The Timberwolves would be a colossal favorite in the rematch, as the Lakers will be without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves to open the series, with the two stars likely to be sidelined for the round’s duration.

Frankly, whoever draws the Lakers in Round 1 — Minnesota or Houston — will be a good bet to dispatch the Lakers in five games or fewer. Not only would that be one box checked along the championship chase, but such a series reduces wear and tear, which is invaluable amid the marathon that is the NBA postseason.

A series with Denver would be far more taxing. The Wolves would enter that bout as an underdog.

The contrast between the quality of the two opponents is about as stark as it gets. And Minnesota, who’s already locked into the No. 6 seed, has zero say in which one it gets.

Heading into the Spurs-Nuggets game, both sides are being coy about who will play. Nikola Jokic needs to log one more game played — and he must play at least 15 minutes for it to count — to reach the 65-game threshold and subsequently be eligible for All-NBA honors. Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama crossed that barrier on Friday.

The Spurs incentive to play their guys and win Sunday would be to keep Denver, widely considered the third-best team in the West, out of its side of the conference’s playoff bracket. The Nuggets, who rested all of their starters in Friday’s win over the also-resting Thunder, may rather lose to play Houston in Round 1 instead of Minnesota.

Should the results turn in Minnesota’s favor and land the Wolves’ a first-round matchup with the short-handed Lakers, it would be an incredible stroke of luck for the Timberwolves, who benefitted from similar circumstances a year ago, when they got to play a Steph Curry-less Golden State in the conference semifinals.

But should Denver win Sunday, or Utah upset the Lakers, then the Wolves will have to do things the hard way.

Edwards shakes off rust

Anthony Edwards returned to Minnesota’s lineup Friday as the short-handed Wolves upset the fully-loaded Rockets 136-132 in Houston.

After an understandably slow start — it was only the superstar’s third game in the last month — Edwards cranked it up in the second half. He scored 12 points in the third quarter and buried the game-sealing triple with 51 seconds to play.

Edwards finished with 22 points in 27 minutes in what’s likely to amount to his postseason tune-up.

Shannon Jr. shines

Terrence Shannon Jr. played himself out of the rotation in recent months with his poor play over the first half of the season, but he’s taken advantage of opportunities this week as the Wolves have rested many key players.

The second-year wing dropped 33 points on 11-for-14 shooting to go with five assists in Minnesota’s loss to Orlando on Wednesday, and followed that up with a 23-point showing in the win over Houston.

A key for Shannon Jr. is he’s shot 5 for 7 from deep in each of the contests and seems to be playing with full confidence. He’ll likely get one final opportunity to strengthen his case for playoff minutes in Sunday’s game against New Orleans.

And even if he isn’t part of Minnesota’s initial playoff rotation, the 25-year-old has given Timberwolves coach Chris Finch another lever to possibly pull this postseason.