The Timberwolves' Bench is a Glaring Problem Tim Connelly Must Fix

The Timberwolves are in a funk right now. A frustrating home loss to the Bulls on Thursday night was their fourth in a row, marking their first four-game skid since November 2024. If they don't snap out of it and beat the Warriors on Saturday, it'll be Minnesota's first five-game losing streak since December 2022. Their blowout win in Milwaukee on the 13th feels like it was a month ago, not 10 days ago.

There are plenty of reasons for the Wolves' recent struggles. In the two games since he scored 55 points against the Spurs, Anthony Edwards is 20 of 53 from the field (38 percent) and 6 of 23 from long range (26 percent). He's also struggled on defense at times, including giving Coby White too much space on a critical late three-pointer on Thursday. Julius Randle has averaged 26.2 points during the losing streak, but he's a -25 because he has more turnovers than assists and is regularly getting beat by backdoor cuts for easy buckets.

With that said, Edwards and Randle aren't the Wolves' main issue right now. Their most glaring problem is that they've gotten almost nothing from the non-Naz Reid members of their bench.

Against the Bulls, the seventh through tenth players in Minnesota's rotation — Mike Conley, Jaylen Clark, Bones Hyland, and Joan Beringer — played a total of 41 minutes and scored 8 points on 3-of-15 shooting. Over the course of the losing streak, non-Reid bench players have seen 195 total minutes and scored 35 points (just under 9 per game) on 37 percent shooting.

Chris Finch | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

On Wednesday, we wrote a column arguing that Conley should be removed from the rotation after the veteran guard became the first Wolves player in a decade to play 15-plus scoreless minutes in consecutive games. Conley did finally hit a shot on Thursday, but he was 1 for 5 from the field for 3 points and was a -8 in his 14 minutes. His season-long shooting percentage fell below 34 percent. At 38 years old, Conley simply doesn't appear to have anything left in the tank.

Hyland was 1 for 6 against the Bulls and has scored 12 total points in the four games since his 21-point outburst against the Bucks. He's played fewer than 12 minutes a night during that span, which makes it tough to get into a rhythm, but he may not be the answer he appeared to be in that Milwaukee game.

Clark, whose defense has kept him in Chris Finch's rotation, is such a zero on offense that it's unclear if he should still be playing at all. The second-year guard is 17 of 59 from three this season (29 percent) and hit the side of the backboard on one of his two corner attempts against Chicago.

Meanwhile, Finch doesn't seem to want to use rookie center Joan Beringer for more than a few minutes unless either Rudy Gobert or Reid aren't playing. Rob Dillingham is stapled to the bench, despite the struggles of the three bench guards playing ahead of him. And Terrence Shannon Jr., who was supposed to be a key piece of this year's bench, hasn't played in a month due to a foot injury. Before getting hurt, he was shooting below 40 percent from the floor.

Right now, the Wolves have six players Finch can trust to play significant, productive minutes. That's an issue that absolutely has to be addressed before the playoffs begin. And that's why it's never been more clear that president of basketball operations Tim Connelly needs to make an addition of some sort before the February 5 trade deadline, which is now less than two weeks away.

Whether it's Ayo Dosunmu, Malik Monk, Bennedict Mathurin, or any number of other names, the Wolves need to go out and get a guard who can score off of their bench. The current group simply hasn't been good enough.

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