Jaden McDaniels

Formerly the No. 7 recruit in his high school class, McDaniels slipped to the 28th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft but displayed some upside. However, his improvements last year were modest, and he regressed as a three-point shooter (1.1 makes per game at 31.7 percent). He averaged 9.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.5 combined blocks-plus-steals in 25.8 minutes. The Washington product remains raw offensively and hasn't succeeded in creating for himself. He'll either need to improve there or as a three-point shooter to make an impact outside of his decent-but-not-great offensive rebounding (1.5 ORB per 36 minutes). For that reason, he often ended up in the corner -- 23 percent of his shots were corner threes -- though he only converted those at a sufficient 36 percent. If he can't make those necessary improvements, the Wolves may turn elsewhere for wing minutes. Adding Rudy Gobert in the offseason will push Karl-Anthony Towns to power forward, eating up minutes at the position. After that, McDaniels must consistently outplay Kyle Anderson and Taurean Prince to maintain his starting small forward spot. Anthony Edwards could also see time as a small forward in certain lineups. Believers in McDaniels could take a gamble on him with a flier in deeper leagues or keeper formats, but he's unlikely to become a meaningful asset in standard leagues. He ranked 188th last season in per-game fantasy production.

McDaniels, a former top-10 high school recruit, was drafted 28th overall last season. Surprisingly, he saw a significant role with the Timberwolves. His minutes and production started increasing nicely in March, and through his final 33 games, McDaniels averaged 8.3 points on 49/38/68 shooting, 4.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.7 combined blocks-plus-steals. Over that stretch, he ranked 124th in terms of total production due to a clean bill of health. Despite the relative success, McDaniels opted to play in 2021 Summer League, where he averaged 16.3 points on 49/28/100 shooting, 6.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.3 combined steals-plus-blocks. McDaniels clearly has upside given his status as a recruit, and he did a good job of showing off his defensive upside as a rookie. If he can remain a consistent three-point shooter and take some steps in terms of creating his own looks, he could be a deep-league sleeper. That will probably also count on him seeing roughly 30 minutes per game, but the starting power forward job is seemingly an open competition for the Wolves between McDaniels, Jarred Vanderbilt and Taurean Prince.

McDaniels was selected by the Timberwolves (via the Lakers) with the 28th overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft. McDaniels averaged 13.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 blocks during his lone collegiate season at Washington and could battle Jake Layman for reserve minutes in the front court.