When Elston Turner devises the Minnesota Timberwolves’ defensive game plan, he does so with a smile on his face. He knows he has a weapon at his disposal that most defensive coordinators do not. He has a 6-foot-10, long-armed, heat-seeking missile capable of striking any target, no matter how big or small.
Jaden McDaniels stands at the top of the Wolves’ defense, the yin to Rudy Gobert’s yang in the paint, and he’s one of the biggest keys to the Timberwolves’ chances as the playoffs approach.
“He’s a multiple position defender, which, to me, is very valuable when you talk about being a defensive coordinator,” Turner said. “You can put him anywhere.”
As the Timberwolves push toward a top-six playoff berth — after beating the Brooklyn Nets, 117-91, on Friday, they need only a win over the tanking Utah Jazz on Sunday to clinch it — McDaniels’ blossoming in his fifth season looms large. He has become more of an offensive threat this season, and also even more versatile as a defender. No matter who the Wolves play, in the Play-In Tournament or the playoffs, McDaniels will be drawing the toughest cover. No matter who he is covering, his teammates trust him implicitly.
“To me, he’s the best perimeter defender in the NBA, hands down,” teammate Anthony Edwards said. “That’s all I can say. He makes it tough on everybody, if you ask me. In practice, he makes it tough on me. So I know what he do to other people. I feel bad for ’em.”
Jaden McDaniels on-ball defense on Aaron Gordon pic.twitter.com/FytML7JD5e
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) April 2, 2025
On many a night, McDaniels is deployed at the point of attack, meaning he is guarding the lead ballhandler and most dangerous perimeter scorer. But this season, the Wolves have begun experimenting even more with McDaniels off the ball, swooping in to protect the rim and grab rebounds like he never has before.
Coming off his season in which he was named second-team All-Defense and in the first year of a five-year, $136 million contract extension, McDaniels is averaging career highs in points (12.3 per game), rebounds (5.8) and steals (1.3) and, perhaps most notably, is averaging just 2.8 fouls per game, lowest since his rookie season for a player who was prone to foul trouble earlier in his career.
McDaniels has fouled out just twice this season, and Turner believes he is starting to earn the respect of the officials, who have become more familiar with how he defends. And for as emotional as he can be on the court, McDaniels rarely directs that fire toward the officials. His counterpart, Edwards, leads the league in technical fouls and will serve another one-game suspension in the regular season finale against Utah on Sunday if the NBA does not rescind his 18th technical, which he received in the second quarter against the Nets.
“I’ve never seen him charge up to referees and go at them and get ejected,” Turner said. “Referees are human. They respect that. I think they’re starting to respect his game a little bit.”
McDaniels got off to a bit of a slow start on both ends of the floor this season as he and the Wolves acclimated to a trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to New York and brought in Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. As the season has gone on, he has reasserted himself as the tip of Minnesota’s spear. The Wolves have the seventh-ranked defense in the league, with premier defenders like Gobert, Edwards, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jaylen Clark all at the ready to make life miserable for their opponent.
McDaniels is the only one of them who will guard everyone from Ja Morant to James Harden to Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo. In a win over the Phoenix Suns last month, McDaniels did the unthinkable when he blocked a turnaround jumper from Durant in the lane.
“You’ve got a 7-footer elevating, and he just blocked it like it was really nothing,” Turner marveled.
In the pivotal win over Memphis on Thursday, Desmond Bane and the Grizzlies offense shredded McDaniels and the rest of the Wolves in the first half. Memphis scored 72 points, with Bane erupting for 24 points. He made 9 of 11 shots, including all six of his 3s, prompting a tongue-lashing from coach Chris Finch in the locker room at the break.
McDaniels came out with a different focus in the second half, helping to hold Bane to four points and 0-for-4 shooting from deep as the Wolves pulled away. McDaniels wants the toughest assignment on a nightly basis. His offensive role can be limited on some nights, but he knows he is always a focal point on defense, and he welcomes the responsibility.
“I’ll say it’s a big part, just to be guarding the best player,” McDaniels said. “Trying to make it hard for them and just bringing that energy and intensity and just be solid all game.”
The sports data website BBall Index ranks McDaniels as “the league’s premier point-of-attack defender” with “an unmatched mix of on-ball and help defense.” McDaniels is the only point-of-attack defender ranked in the top six in perimeter isolation defense, rim protection and defensive rebounding, according to its metrics. McDaniels is also in the top 25 percent of the league in steals, blocks, deflections and offensive fouls drawn, the only point-of-attack defender in the league to do that.
“He has value on and off the ball. Not everybody can say that,” Turner said. “A lot of defenders across the league are either off-ball shot blockers or on-ball, but not a combination of both.”
Wolves defense suffocating the Suns, turnover leads to Jaden behind the back pass to Randle for the slam (SUFFOCATING I SAID) pic.twitter.com/GFYsy3pIhI
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) March 29, 2025
One of the biggest leaps McDaniels has made this season is rebounding. He has 10 double-doubles this season after having only one in his previous four seasons combined. The emergence of Clark as another perimeter defender allows Turner to put McDaniels off the ball more, clearing the way for him to attack the glass and end possessions in a way that is different from him just walling off a ballhandler.
“He’s long been one of our best low men and rim protectors,” Finch said. “Getting him there is not always easy given the other matchup priorities that we have.”
McDaniels is a favorite in the Wolves locker room for his quiet demeanor, his under-his-breath quips and jabs as he walks right past a teammate and his unselfish approach to the game. Whether he gets 15 shots or three, the expression on his face never changes. The Wolves see the different hats he wears defensively, the willingness to take on any assignment, and they want him to shine.
“It just makes my job easier. It makes everybody’s job easier,” Randle said of when McDaniels is locked in defensively. “It’s a different energy, a different level, a dominance to our team out there, it feels like.”
Provided the Timberwolves beat the tanking Jazz on Sunday, they can still finish anywhere between fourth and sixth in the Western Conference. That would guarantee them a playoff spot. That means the Wolves will be looking at facing the likes of Luka Dončić and LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, Ja Morant and Bane or Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. as top-of-the-line wing tandems.
With McDaniels on their side, the Wolves believe they will have a chance against any of them.
(Photo: Kyle Ross / Imagn Images)