Timberwolves have glaring need for a bench scorer as NBA trade deadline nears

One week ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves were flying high after a dominant win over the Milwaukee Bucks. They were playing without Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert, and they thrashed the Bucks on the strength of superior efforts from bench players Bones Hyland and Joan Beringer. They believed that they had all they needed to compete in the Western Conference. But after a humbling road trip ended with an embarrassing loss to the Utah Jazz Tuesday night, their need for another guard or wing off the bench has never seemed more pressing. While there was plenty of blame to go around for a 127-122 defeat, including inattentiveness on defense from Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle, poor shooting from Donte DiVincenzo and Naz Reid and some questionable rotation decisions from coach Chris Finch, it was hard not to look at Hyland and Mike Conley going scoreless in 20 combined minutes as a glaring issue. The loss could bring more clarity about the direction president of basketball operations Tim Connelly needs to take as the Feb. 5 trade deadline approaches. For much of the season, the Wolves have appeared to have three primary needs: a point guard, rim protection when Gobert is out of the game and a bench scorer. The point guard issue isn’t perfect, but Edwards has shown a much-improved feel for the game with the ball in his hands, and DiVincenzo has proven to be a worthy wingman. That backcourt tandem has helped the Wolves’ starting five post a plus-9.6 net rating over 410 minutes, per NBA.com. Combine that synergy with the Timberwolves being right up against the second apron, and it makes trading for a high-priced starter like Ja Morant or LaMelo Ball extremely unlikely. Beringer has shown real promise since joining the rotation over the last four games. He may only be 19, but he already looks like he’s capable of minutes in the team’s crowded frontcourt. He was a plus-30 in the win over Milwaukee and had four points and three rebounds in five minutes Tuesday night. In a game where the Wolves seemed to be playing only half-heartedly, Finch probably should have played him more than he did. That makes a scoring guard/wing off the bench the team’s biggest need. The inconsistency and ineffectiveness of the second-unit guards mean that the pressure is on Reid to carry the entire scoring load for the bench on most nights. After erupting for 23 points and registering a plus-41 in that win over the Bucks, Hyland has scored nine points total over the last three games. He did not attempt a shot in 4:24 against the Jazz, and Finch went with Conley in the second half while keeping Hyland on the bench. The 38-year-old has been invaluable to Finch and the Timberwolves since coming over in a trade three years ago, giving them an adult in the room and a steady hand on the court. But he was moved from the starting lineup to the bench before the season, and with Edwards having the ball in his hands even more, the role he is now required to play hasn’t been a good fit. “It’s been a lot,” Conley said in December as he bounced in and out of the rotation. “Some nights, it’s easy. Some nights, it’s difficult.” Conley is shooting 36 percent from 2-point range this season and 34.5 percent from 3. He also went scoreless in the loss in San Antonio Saturday. It was the fourth time in the last 12 games that he had not made a field goal despite averaging 16 minutes per game. He has made more than one field goal in just three games over that span. The Wolves hoped they would get some scoring punch and shot creation from second-year pros Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. But Dillingham is out of the rotation, and Shannon has been hurt for much of the season. The issue was laid bare in Utah. Despite showing very few signs of taking the game seriously, the Timberwolves started the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead against one of the worst rosters in the league. Finch did what he often does at that point of the game, starting the quarter with Edwards and Randle on the bench and running out a lineup of Conley, DiVincenzo, Reid, Gobert and Jaden McDaniels. It has been a proven winner for the Wolves this season, with a net rating of plus-10.1 points per 100 possessions over 45 minutes entering the night. But the Jazz outscored the Wolves 16-6 in the first three minutes, using that as a catapult to a 43-26 fourth quarter and handing Minnesota one of its most disappointing losses of the season. Finch could have gone to Hyland over Conley during that stretch to see if the microwave scorer caught a spark. But the Wolves really could use another player capable of coming in and hitting shots if the mercurial Hyland can’t get it going. The Chicago Bulls’ Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu and the Indiana Pacers’ Bennedict Mathurin would all make sense. Would the Golden State Warriors part with Buddy Hield after Jimmy Butler’s injury? Complicating matters: The Wolves don’t have a ton of ammunition to make a move. They could trade DiVincenzo, Randle or Reid to land a bigger prize, but all three players are a big part of what they have built over the last two years. Conley is making $10.7 million in the last year of his deal, but his value would primarily be his expiring contract. Dillingham and Shannon would likely draw interest because they’re young and could just need a change of scenery. Leonard Miller has yet to play meaningful minutes in his three seasons, but his physical tools could entice a team to ask for him as a throw-in on a deal. Connelly has been exploring the market for weeks. Despite this recent three-game slide, Minnesota (27-17) remains bullish on its chances to contend in the West. With Edwards ascending to another tier of stardom, Randle looking comfortable in his role, Gobert recapturing his Defensive Player of the Year potential and McDaniels showing more offensive versatility, the team has shown it can beat anyone, including Oklahoma City, San Antonio (twice) and Boston. But the roster does have holes, and nights like this one in Utah are concerning. Keyonte George scored a career-high 43 points for the Jazz. The Timberwolves missed 12 of their 15 3s in the fourth while allowing Utah to shoot 68 percent. This was not simply a make-or-miss game, though. The Wolves looked inattentive from the start. Randle only grabbed two rebounds and made some head-scratching decisions. McDaniels turned it over five times. Gobert had another rough night at the foul line, going 1 of 5 to tarnish an otherwise solid game with 11 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and two steals. Edwards scored 38 points and grabbed eight rebounds, but he got beat on a couple of backdoor cuts in the fourth quarter that helped the Jazz seal the win. Reid had 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting, and the rest of the Wolves’ bench managed just eight points And with that, this road trip crashed to a halt. The loss in Houston could be forgiven because Edwards wasn’t in the lineup and the free-throw shooting was so poor that it could be considered an outlier. The loss to the Spurs could be brushed aside because the Wolves came all the way back from a 25-point halftime deficit to set up a thrilling duel between Edwards and Victor Wembanyama down the stretch. This one? This was hard to stomach. The Jazz (15-29) were playing on the second night of a back-to-back and missing star Lauri Markkanen, who was out with an illness. Utah had been 0-10 in games Markkanen sat before Tuesday night. But the Wolves generally are not a group that panics, even during a rough stretch. Setting this game aside, they have been terrific against bad teams this season. They are 17-5 when facing teams with a record below .500, with losses to Sacramento, Memphis, Brooklyn, Atlanta and Utah. Now it is up to Connelly to decide if the roster issues that have arisen sporadically through the season are glaring enough to warrant a move. Given his aggressive nature since he arrived in Minnesota, it may be difficult for him to stand pat.