Souhan: Why this season’s Minnesota Timberwolves might be a better playoff team than last season’s

The 2024-25 Timberwolves did not match the regular-season achievements of the 2023-24 team, which posted the second-best record in franchise history, then embarked on the most impressive postseason in franchise history.

Sunday, the Wolves closed out the regular season with a 116-105 victory over Utah. A year after winning 56 games and landing the third seed in the Western Conference, the Wolves won 49 games and became the sixth seed.

This team was not as good as its predecessor.

Why should anyone be optimistic about this team’s chances?

Because this team might have a better playoff roster.

Here are six reasons why this Wolves team may be better prepared for a long playoff run than last year’s accomplished group:

Last year, the Wolves relied heavily on Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns to lead them in scoring. Jaden McDaniels contributed sporadically, and Kyle Anderson was an offensive liability.

Donte DiVincenzo gives the Wolves three players — Naz Reid, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and himself — coming off the bench who can win a game with three-point shooting, one-on-one defense and everything in between.

Julius Randle can play point forward, hit threes or create his own shot. And the Wolves have a number of depth players who can score if the rotation needs to be expanded past eight or nine.

One of the reasons the Wolves traded for Randle was to give them a player besides Edwards who could break down a defense and create his own shot. Randle has proved he can do that. He also has adapted to an offense that should be predicated on ball movement by becoming much more efficient in making decisions in the paint.

For a player known for scoring, he has proven remarkably unselfish and adaptable. He and Edwards played better together in the last month than they had all season. Randle has become exactly the player the Wolves wanted.

Edwards hit seven three-pointers Sunday to reach 320 for the season, most in the NBA this season and a franchise record.

Entering last year’s playoffs, the Wolves didn’t know what to expect from McDaniels and Reid, who had missed the previous playoffs. They were optimistic about Edwards’ ability to rise to the occasion, but he had never played in consecutive NBA playoff series.

Not only do the core Timberwolves now understand what the playoffs demand, they have been joined by Randle and DiVincenzo, who were starters in 13 intense playoff games for the Knicks last year.

The Wolves were mentally and emotionally exhausted by the time they faced Luka Doncic and Dallas last year. This group should have more staying power, if they’re good enough to beat the Lakers.

The last player the Wolves should have wanted to see this postseason is Doncic, who destroyed them last year. But Doncic’s effective field-goal percentage since he joined the Lakers is his lowest since his rookie season, and he doesn’t have a wall of large defenders behind him this year to erase his defensive lapses.

Doncic could destroy the Wolves again, but he would have to work harder to do so.

James is 40. Can he thrive in what could be a long, physical series? Doncic is just 26, and the Mavericks might have made a historic mistake by trading him, but they traded him in part because of concerns about his physical conditioning.

Can the aging James and the questionably conditioned Doncic carry a flawed roster to victory over a surging Wolves team?