Are Timberwolves better in 2025-26 than 2024-25? Chris Finch weighs in

The Minnesota Timberwolves are stuck in a dogfight in the Western Conference, as even after defeating the Dallas Mavericks quite easily, 122-111, in their first game back since the All-Star break, they are still in sixth in the standings. Moving up is going to be tough, which will in turn force the Timberwolves to raise their standards so they could get a leg up on their peers.

At this point, however, the Timberwolves are simply looking for ways to be better than the team they were the day before and the day before that. They are not exactly stacking themselves up to others; what’s important to them is that they unlock their full potential.

At present, however, head coach Chris Finch said that he doesn’t know if the Timberwolves are quite there yet, especially when compared to last season.

“When you sit back and look at it, we’ve got pretty high internal expectations. If you took the temperature of the team internally, we’d probably be a little disappointed in where we are. We feel that we should be a little further ahead. We’ve just been inconsistent with our defense at times, that’s hurt us. The West is even more competitive this year,” Finch said, via Dane Moore, Timberwolves beat reporter.

“I don’t know if we’re better. We’ll measure that at the end of the season. But we know who we need to be when we’re a good team. And sometimes we deviate from that.”

Here's Chris Finch when asked if this season's Wolves team is better than last season's team.

"When you sit back and look at it, we've got pretty high internal expectations. If you took the temperature of the team internally, we'd probably be a little disappointed in where we… pic.twitter.com/qN2UpcWTQT

— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) February 20, 2026

Timberwolves know that the next step is to get over the hump

The Timberwolves may have made it to the Conference Finals in 2024 and 2025, but they weren’t exactly very competitive once they got there. They lost to the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder in five games; they did let a few winnable games slip against the Mavs, but against the Thunder, they were outclassed for the majority of that five-game series.

The gauntlet hasn’t gotten easier for the Timberwolves. The Thunder still loom. The Nuggets have so much depth. But they have the ability to get over the hump, that’s for certain.

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