Handing Out the Wolves' End-of-Season Awards: MVP, Most Improved, and More

With 82 games in the books, the Minnesota Timberwolves have their eyes set on a third consecutive run in the Western Conference playoffs, with hopes of reaching the conference finals for a third straight season and breaking through to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

To do that, they'll need pristine health while minimizing letdowns and slumps against some true NBA powerhouses, starting with the Denver Nuggets in the best-of-seven first-round series. After that, they might have to go through the San Antonio Spurs and the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

That's all on the menu, but with a handful of days before Game 1, we have time to look back at the regular season and identify Minnesota's MVP, best defensive player, best bench player, and most improved player.

MVP: Anthony Edwards

Ant-Man is the easy choice every season that he suits up in a Minnesota uniform, and this season featured the development of his mid-range game to complement his abilities attacking the rim and torching teams from three-point range. He averaged a career-high 28.8 points despite taking fewer threes (8.4 per game this season, down from 10.4 last season).

He became more efficient by boosting his overall shooting percentage from 44.7% last season to 48.9% this season, while maintaining a nearly 40% clip from three. He also got to the free-throw line a career-best 7.2 times per game.

Best defensive player: Rudy Gobert

As maddening as Gobert's game on the offensive end can be, his defensive skills outweigh those frustrations—by a lot. According to Cleaning the Glass, opponents averaged 11.8 fewer points per 100 possessions with Gobert on the floor, which ranks in the 98th percentile. They also shot 4.1% worse, which qualifies in the 95th percentile.

Best bench player: Naz Reid

He's not going to win the Sixth Man of the Year award, but Reid provided scoring punch while being Minnesota's only pseudo big man off the bench. He played in all but five games despite dealing with a painful shoulder injury.

If his numbers were good enough to win the Sixth Man award in 2024, and finish fifth in the vote in 2025, then there's nothing to suggest he shouldn't be a top-five vote-getter again in 2026.

Season	Games	PPG	REB	AST	FG%	3FG%	BLK
2023-24	81	13.5	5.2	1.3	47.7	41.4	0.9
2024-25	80	14.2	6.0	2.3	46.2	37.9	0.9
2025-26	77	13.6	6.2	2.2	45.6	36.2	1.0

Most improved: Bones Hyland

Bones stole an award that Terrence Shannon Jr. was expected to win. But with TSJ sidelined for a long time with a foot injury, and possibly benched due to poor performances until late in the season, Bones picked up the slack and proved to be a valuable piece when Mike Conley regressed significantly.

In 71 games, Bones shot 38.8% from three while averaging just one turnover in 16.6 minutes per game. When the Wolves needed him down the stretch, he gave them 12.5 points per game over the final 20 games.

While we're giving Bones a well-deserved honor, Jaden McDaniels gets an honorable mention after setting career-highs in points (14.8) and three-point shoooting percentage (41.2).

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