When he felt the bone in his right hand crack, all Jaden McDaniels wanted to do was disappear. In a fit of frustration, the same hot temper that caused him to take the Madden disc out of his PlayStation and snap it in half after losing to his older brother back in the day, McDaniels punched a wall and became a punchline.
It was the regular-season finale last season, and McDaniels knew immediately that his season was cooked. When word spread of how he was injured, it mattered little that McDaniels did not know there was a concrete wall directly behind the canvas awning that he punched. The result was the same: a broken right hand that caused him to miss the Minnesota Timberwolves’ two Play-In Tournament games and the first-round series against the Denver Nuggets.
The nature of his injury made him a target for giggles and derision, but McDaniels did not care about that. What was tearing him up inside was the feeling that he let his teammates down while watching them get bounced by the Nuggets. He knew they needed his defense against Denver’s high-octane offense. He knew he could have made an impact on a series that the Nuggets said was their most challenging on the way to the title. He could hardly look them in the eye while they battled without him.
“I didn’t even want to come around the team,” McDaniels said as he walked down the Target Center hallway to his car. “It’s embarrassing that I punched a wall. It’s silly. I was down for a couple of days, for sure.”
The shame that he felt in that moment paved the way to the triumph of Tuesday night. On a night when Timberwolves stars Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns were far from their usual dynamic selves, McDaniels delivered the game of his life — 25 points, eight rebounds, three assists and all-world defense on Kevin Durant and Devin Booker in a 105-93 victory over the Phoenix Suns that gave the Wolves a 2-0 lead in the series.
McDaniels has been waiting an entire year for this chance. His expressionless face can be mistaken for ambivalence, a Kawhi Leonard-style basketball cyborg that never gets rattled and never gets fazed. In truth, it is just a mask he wears to keep outsiders at arm’s length, and with a 7-foot wingspan, those arms are longer than most. Underneath that stone visage burns a fire that only those close to him get the chance to see.
Naz Reid is his closest friend on the team. Reid also was injured for last season’s playoffs, giving him plenty of time to spend with his buddy while they rehabbed their ailments. While others wondered how McDaniels was handling his misfortune, Reid could tell that he was tied up in knots.
“I don’t even have to ask him, I kind of know,” Reid said. “I gave him his moment and we can talk about it after. Everybody goes through moments like that. It’s a growth and learning experience.”
It was nice for McDaniels to have someone by his side during those playoffs, but he knew that his and Reid’s situations were not the same. Reid broke his wrist while trying to brace himself on a fall. Those kinds of injuries happen in the NBA. It is no one’s fault for a freak accident. But McDaniels carried the guilt that comes with a self-inflicted wound.
“I was sick just watching them play,” McDaniels said. “I just felt like it would have been different if I got hurt playing, trying to battle. Just hurting myself, I felt selfish.”
In workouts all summer long and as the starting small forward for one of the best teams in the Western Conference this season, McDaniels never forgot the pit in his stomach that was there in Denver as the Wolves were eliminated in five games. It sat there, gnawing at him as he worked to improve his off-the-dribble game in the offseason. He just could not get the feeling out of his head that had he and Reid been healthy, that series against the Nuggets could have turned out differently.
“I know it stung him a little bit because it was more self-inflicted than it was anything else,” said point guard Mike Conley, who bounced back from a poor shooting night in Game 1 to score 18 points in Game 2. “We knew with him we were more of a complete team and had a chance to put some pressure on whoever we were going to play. I think that kind of set him up for this year.”
The injury did nothing to deter the Wolves’ belief in him for the long term. President of basketball operations Tim Connelly signed him to a five-year, $136 million contract extension last summer, cementing McDaniels as part of the team’s young core with Edwards, Reid and Towns. Connelly saw an already dominant perimeter defender who had the chance to grow his offensive game to make him a true two-way player.
With Towns back healthy after missing 51 games last season, McDaniels did not make the offensive leap that many hoped to see. His numbers dropped in scoring (12.1 points to 10.5 points per game), rebounds (3.9 to 3.1), 3-point shooting (39.8 percent to 33.7) and field-goal percentage (51.7 to 48.9). Shots were harder to come by in the flow of the offense as the fifth option on the floor, so any kind of rhythm proved elusive.
With Edwards, Towns, Conley and Rudy Gobert joining him in the starting lineup, McDaniels often is matched up with the opponent’s weakest defender. That generally offers more opportunities to attack, and he took advantage of those on Tuesday night.
McDaniels made 10 of 17 shots, including two 3s, and only turned the ball over once. The 23-year-old became the third-youngest player in Wolves history to score at least 25 points in the playoffs, joining Edwards and Stephon Marbury.
Slim slam. 🔨 pic.twitter.com/UtHbxUK9zu
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) April 24, 2024
The offensive explosion could not have come at a better time for Minnesota. After scoring 33 in Game 1, Edwards managed just 15 points on 3-of-12 shooting. Towns scored only 12 points and was limited to less than 24 minutes because of foul trouble and Reid was quiet with a 1-of-5 shooting night.
Wolves coach Chris Finch quipped that he’s spent “250 games” trying to get McDaniels to rebound his position better, using those long arms and the 6-10 height to his advantage. McDaniels finally came through in that regard, grabbing five offensive rebounds and outworking the Suns to create new or longer possessions.
The increased activity wasn’t an accident, McDaniels said. It all stemmed from the helplessness he felt while watching last year’s playoffs with a cast on his right wrist.
“I felt like I owed them one,” he said.
He played like it, too. He scored nine points in the second quarter and another seven in the fourth, taking it right at Kevin Durant at the rim with reckless abandon.
Jaden McDaniels. pic.twitter.com/gAONl7Slcs
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) April 24, 2024
“His activity’s been on another level so far in two games,” Finch said.
McDaniels has been working on his finishing package for quite a while, and the soft touch that he has honed was evident in Game 2.
S L I M pic.twitter.com/8QeXmpoFOC
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) April 24, 2024
He also had three assists, two on quick passes to Rudy Gobert that ended in dunks. Gobert scored 18 points, including 6 of 7 on free throws, with nine rebounds and three steals.
those dimes. 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/jAHAocx1q5
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) April 24, 2024
Finch openly lamented the injuries to Reid and McDaniels last season because it prevented two of their most promising young players from getting much-needed experience in the playoff pressure cooker. Reid put up 12 points and was a plus-22 in Game 1, and McDaniels unveiled an intriguing offensive game to buttress his defense in Game 2.
McDaniels played 41 minutes on Tuesday night, nearly always matching up with Booker or Durant. Booker scored 20 harmless points on 6-of-13 shooting with six turnovers before fouling out. Durant, who was also guarded by Towns, was 6 of 15 for 18 points. Bradley Beal, the third star scorer for Phoenix, scored 14 points on 6-of-17 shooting.
The Timberwolves have had the No. 1 defense in the league all season long, but it has risen to another level in these playoffs. Gobert serves as the anchor, but it is the pack of Wolves on the perimeter who have given the Suns hell. McDaniels is the leader, devouring at the point of attack while being flanked by Edwards and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
“Every time I go on the court and I see them two, I just be like, ‘Who you wanna guard?’ ” McDaniels said. “It doesn’t matter which person we guard. It’s great to have. With Rudy behind us as well, I mean, it just makes it difficult for the other team.”
THIS >>> pic.twitter.com/OnPJkFTFPs
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) April 24, 2024
Durant scored 31 in Game 1, but Beal and Booker have done very little in these first two games. The Suns averaged 116.3 points per game in the regular season and were held under 100 just five times. The Wolves have done it in both games. Officials across the league have been allowing more contact and physicality since the All-Star break, which plays right into the rugged Wolves’ hands.
The struggles are starting to show on a Phoenix team that was assembled to make a run at a championship. Coach Frank Vogel stomped and screamed throughout the second half while looking for fouls and picked up a technical with five minutes to go in the game. Booker has resorted to flailing to draw fouls, and he got into a shoving match with McDaniels in the second quarter.
In a show of his improving maturity, McDaniels didn’t let the altercation get to him. He just kept coming after the Suns, on both ends.
“It’s a physical game. There’s nothing serious between us,” McDaniels said. “It’s just sometimes things happen and you’re just continuing to play. We didn’t let it affect us, that’s why I’m proud.”
During an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio earlier this season, Edwards responded to a question about the Suns by saying, “They got KD, but we got Jaden McDaniels.” The comment induced some chuckles at the time, but it has looked prophetic in the first two games of this series.
“Ant knows what he talkin’ about,” McDaniels cracked.
He was not voted to either of the two NBA All-Defense teams last season and his soft-spoken demeanor makes it easy for him to be overlooked. Despite their success and Edwards’ ascendance, the Wolves were not often on national television during the regular season. That all changes now. More eyeballs are on the games, which means more people are starting to see this 6-10 prowler wiggle around screens, get into the passing lanes and stifle opponents at the rim.
“I live for the playoffs. All TV games. So just showing the world, really,” he said.
Game 3 is Friday night in Phoenix.
His teammates couldn’t be happier to see McDaniels getting some shine. They know what he went through last season. They saw how much it hurt him to be on the sideline when they needed him most.
Game 2 was the best game of his young career, but it’s not enough for McDaniels. The anguish of last year’s playoffs stays with him. The debt has not yet been paid.
He still owes them one.
(Photo of Jaden McDaniels: David Sherman / NBAE via Getty Images)
