How many Timberwolves Summer League players are future contributors?

Unless something dramatic happens in the coming months of what should otherwise be a quiet rest of the offseason, the Timberwolves will enter next year returning the top seven rotation players from a 56-win, Western Conference final playoff team.

The starting lineup in this scenario is obvious: Anthony Edwards, Mike Conley Jr., Jaden McDaniels, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert. Then there is the NBA’s official Sixth Man of the Year (Naz Reid) and unofficial seventh man of the year (Nickeil Alexander-Walker).

It’s a near-certainty that all seven of those players won’t play the full 82-game NBA schedule, but this much is true when they are healthy: Most of the rotation is already set before camp even starts.

Maybe it’s counterintuitive, then, to be thinking about how much this year’s Summer League roster matters to the Wolves. But as Chris Hine and I talked about on Thursday’s Daily Delivery podcast, multiple players currently in Las Vegas have a chance to make an impact during the upcoming season. More important, the core of the Summer League team could be a big part of an evolving core that keeps the Wolves’ window of contention open into the end of the decade.

Here is a projection for six of those Summer League players:

Terrence Shannon Jr.: The most NBA-ready player on the Wolves’ Summer League roster even as a rookie. Shannon played five years in college and will turn 24 in two weeks, making him a full year older than Wolves star Anthony Edwards. Hine has been impressed by Shannon’s willingness to attack the basket and defend. He might have been one of the draft’s biggest steals at pick 27.

Projection: A good chance to be an immediate rotation player, and someone whose role should grow over the next three or four years.

Rob Dillingham: The opposite of Shannon in that he’s just 19 and might need some time to grow into the expectations that come with being the No. 8 overall pick. But as Hine noted, he’s coming back from a pre-draft injury and Summer League is his first real action since then. Dillingham has struggled with his shot in early Summer League action, but his court vision is evident.

Projection: The Wolves will give him every chance to be the backup to Conley this season, trusting that his ability will fuel an offensive-minded second unit. That could evolve into more of a timeshare the following season, with the hope that by the 2026-27 season Dillingham is the starting point guard and perhaps a budding star alongside Edwards.

Leonard Miller: He’s been a 20/10 guy routinely in the G League and dropped 22 points with 13 rebounds in the Wolves’ Summer League loss to the 76ers on Tuesday.

Projection: It’s hard to see Miller get much time this season unless the Wolves are hit by injuries. But in 2025-26, when Gobert and Reid have player options as the final year of their current deals and Minnesota is wrestling with more salary cap and luxury tax questions, the Wolves could have a decision to make. Miller could be a low-cost alternative who slides into the rotation.

Jaylen Clark: A 2023 second-round pick who is just starting to play again after rupturing his Achilles at the end of his college career, Clark is a former national defensive player of the year at UCLA. Those defensive chops were on display during his second Summer League game, when Clark nabbed six steals (while also making four of five shots).

Projection: He’s on a two-way contract this season, meaning this is likely just a developmental season as he returns from injury, but given that defense is the backbone of the Wolves’ success he could be a dark horse to contribute this year. Looking out to the 2025-26 season, he projects nicely into a three-and-D bench role once NAW hits free agency and gets expensive.

Josh Minott: Wolves fans love him, and he’s shown flashes during stints with the main team. Minott certainly holds his own in the Summer League as well.

Projection: Probably biding his time for another year, like Miller, unless there are injuries. The Wolves hold a team option for 2025-26 and he could be a factor if he continues to develop. Minott would also probably get a chance with another team if he’s caught up in a numbers crunch here.

Daishen Nix: He’s been in the starting lineup for this year’s Summer Wolves and has almost 100 games of NBA experience between the Wolves and Rockets. As a combo guard with good size (6-5) who is still just 22, there’s upside here.

Projection: The Wolves like him, and Nix is another smart Tim Connelly acquisition. It’s hard to say whether he ever finds a rotation role here, but it’s exactly the kind of two-way contract player teams need to build depth and options.