Can the Timberwolves Count On Ant and Jaden To Lead?

Heading into this brand-new Minnesota Timberwolves season with a new team identity, Chris Finch is looking to shake things up. “But we purposefully haven’t added a bunch of veterans to the team this year,” he told Britt Robson in a recent interview. “My approach with Ant, with Jaden or with all these guys is: If we’re going to take the diapers off, let’s take the diapers off.”

Finch believes that, heading into their seventh season in the league, Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels are ready to take on that responsibility.

“Like, it’s your team now,” he said, expressing what he told Edwards and McDaniels. “What you say and the way you say it, and setting the tone from the first days of practice; that stuff matters. And it’s time. It is seven years in the league. I feel like Jaden will do his part in that.”

Finch isn’t expecting Ant to be the same leader the Timberwolves have had over the years, like veterans Joe Ingles and Mike Conley.

“I wouldn’t expect Ant to be Mike Conley or Joe Ingles, or even try to process the game the way they did,” he said. “Ant needs to lead according to his personality.”

I think this shows Finch has seen how great Ant and Jaden can be together due to their different personalities. Ant’s such an upbeat, charismatic, seemingly silly guy at times. Meanwhile, Jaden is always positive but much more reserved, particularly on the basketball court. They are great friends, and Ant and Jaden really complement each other well on the court, so I like that Finch is giving them ownership over the franchise.

However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be growing pains. Finch mentioned one concern.

“My biggest concern is that Rudy lost a lot of allies,” said Finch. “Guys who understood him and knew how to talk to him could help him help us. And as I go into the season, I am just conscious of making sure that there are people on the team who can still ‘speak Rudy.’”

I have always thought Ant and Rudy always had a great relationship. He always hypes Rudy up on the court. Particularly during the Lakers series in 2025, he hyped him up after his 27-point, 24-rebound performance in Game 5 to send the Lakers home, screaming in LeBron’s face that he “sent them home” along with some expletives, which is one of my favorite moments from this era of Wolves basketball.

A big test for Edwards this season will not come from the good times and hype. However, in the past, the Wolves have gone through stretches where they get bored with regular-season basketball and haven’t always played up to their potential. They let it cost themselves playoff seeding, and it was a big reason they were a 6-seed the last two seasons.

Edwards will have to be the one to keep everyone together in those moments. That doesn’t mean he has to give a speech every single time something goes wrong. Sometimes leadership can be as simple as making the right play, staying locked in, and showing everyone else how to respond.

I think that McDaniels’ leadership is going to look different from Edwards’. While Jaden has never been the player constantly talking or demanding attention, that probably won’t change overnight. But I think there is something valuable about having a player who shows up the same way every night and has those traits. McDaniels has built a reputation around his defense, effort, and willingness to take on other teams’ No. 1 scorers.

It would be different if the Timberwolves were still trying to figure out who they were. They are not. Minnesota has been to the Western Conference Finals twice in the last 3 years and, along with the champions, the New York Knicks and the Oklahoma City Thunder, is one of the only teams to win a playoff series each of the last 3 years. The team clearly has that kind of ceiling. The question is, can the new changes help raise the team’s floor and eliminate the bad habits that kept a great team from fully reaching its potential?

I agree with Finch that it is time to find out what Ant and Jaden can do with this kind of responsibility. The Timberwolves have spent the last few seasons building toward this moment, and they are no longer that super young team that needs veterans to constantly guide them. Ant and Jaden have been through playoff battles, disappointing losses, and the highs of deep runs. Now, at 25, it’s their team. If they can turn that experience into stronger leadership, better consistency, and fewer habits that have held Minnesota back, they can succeed.