Timberwolves' Jaden McDaniels tries Headspace app after wall-punching injury

When Jaden McDaniels was introduced Thursday to the 80-plus youth participants at the Timberwolves and Lynx Basketball Academy, he received cheers that echoed off the walls of the Eagan Community Center gymnasium. The 6-9 forward took it all in.

Give it up for Jaden McDaniels!

The last time fans of all age groups acknowledged his name with such fervor was more than two months ago, when he was announced as a Wolves starter for the final game of the 2022-23 regular season. What happened next was well documented.

He punched a curtain, and a wall.

He suffered a broken hand after said punch.

And he sat sideline for the Wolves' first-round exit because of it.

Rather than reminisce, though, McDaniels has since moved forward in search of improved emotional control with a meditation app called Headspace — which he downloaded for free on the Apple App Store.

"It brings you to this, I call it a safe space," McDaniels said Thursday. "It calms you down. If I was to do it right now, I could hear all the balls bouncing but like I'm really focused, locked in on one main thing."

McDaniels mentioned that Wolves assistant coach Joe Boylan first suggested the app, which the 22-year-old was apparently familiar with before he broke two bones in his right hand.

Its use just became a bigger focus in the aftermath of the "dumb mistake," as he termed it in late April.

"I'm not that deep into it, like I'm on practice trials right now," McDaniels said, "but it's just learning how to control your emotions."

Without McDaniels' elite defensive instincts and supplemental scoring, the No. 8-seeded Wolves fell in a five-game series to the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets. Considering only six No. 8 seeds in NBA history have advanced out of the first round, an upset would have been a tough task regardless.

But the loss of a 79-game starter who averaged a career-high 12.1 points per game as a borderline All-NBA talent on defense was ultimately too much for coach Chris Finch and company to overcome.

After all, McDaniels could be in for as much as a $100 million contract extension when all is said and done. Both he and star teammate Anthony Edwards are headed into a contract year this coming fall.

"I know it's there but I don't even think about it at all," McDaniels said.

Perhaps there's no room for the former first round pick to ruminate.

As McDaniels rehabs and readies for his fourth NBA season, he also aims to clear his head. He doesn't want to "miss an opportunity" at another postseason.

"With time, I feel like I'll be better," McDaniels said.