Jaden McDaniels has long been an NBA player capable of doing great things on the basketball court, yet he has never been able to carve out a niche for himself in the fantasy setting. While he has had his moments at times, he would always remain just on the cusp of relevance, being too inconsistent to be truly counted on in standard formats.
Change could be on the horizon, though, as the twelve games played by the Timberwolves in 2025 have been night and day from their season up until that point, with meaningful rotation changes opening up a path for previously underutilized players like McDaniels and Donte DiVincenzo (currently injured, but looking much improved before then) to capture more fantasy relevant roles.
The Seatbelt
A core part of McDaniels’ game is his ability to lock up players on the defensive end. As a 6’9” combo forward, he is able to guard all five positions on the court, making him a rare commodity in the modern game. Unfortunately for his fantasy value, this defensive upside has not always translated into defensive stats, often missing out on picking up steals or blocks despite making many mistakes.
This has changed in the new year, especially as the Wolves have begun to limit the minutes of aging veterans Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley. An increased focus on spacing offensively has allowed DiVincenzo and Naz Reid to take a step up into a bigger role, and their defensive shortcomings have forced McDaniel’s defensive production to start netting more tangible output.
Since the beginning of 2025, McDaniels is now up to averaging an elite (for a forward) 1.2 blocks per game, likely being used more as a weak side help defender, given Reid’s weaknesses at rim protection. His season average of .9 is already a positive when compared across the rest of the league; however, this new total propels him to a Z-Score nearly double what he had prior. He now sits at a score of .7, putting him slightly ahead of Evan Mobley in that same period.
His steals have also risen over that same span. In the new year, McDaniels is now stealing the ball 1.6 times per contest, which puts him on par with other elite steals options like Toumani Camara. This number, while a huge departure from his career average of roughly .9 steals per game, is more in line with his actual performance on the defensive end and could possibly hold up over the course of the season from here.
Pogo Stick
While the defensive stats are nice, McDaniels is able to find value in other categories as well. Previously in his career, McDaniels has been surrounded by active rebounders who stifle his ability to chase down boards. Players such as Karl-Anthony Towns, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Gobert are all perfect examples of guys who would provide outlandish rebound value when given a chance and previously have limited the opportunity of McDaniels on that end of the ball.
This season, however, it is only Gobert who remains on the roster, and with his minutes being cut in favor of smaller players, there is a higher reliance on McDaniels to become active on the glass. As mentioned above, the Wolves have also increasingly turned away from heavy Gobert minutes in favor of running lineups that favor the spacing provided by Naz Reid.
This has seen Gobert lose out on nearly 3 minutes per game over the past couple of weeks, and with Reid not exactly being an elite rebounder, McDaniels has been called upon to clean up the mess. This has seen the wing reach an average of 7.3 rebounds per game over the last two weeks, over double the 3.1 he averaged last year.
While this is in small part due to the increased minutes he is seeing of late (35.6 over the last two weeks), it is mainly indicative of the lineups he has featured in, making one feel encouraged about the potential for the category going forward. While the increased rebounding output might not normally seem too important at first glance (7.3 rebounds per game, while good, is far from elite), it has done wonders for his fantasy value.
Should he be able to hold at this number, it would serve as one of the biggest night and day transformations in a single category over the course of just one season. Last season, his 3.1 rebounds served as one of his weakest categories, sitting at a Z-Score of -1.07. In his current run, he has managed to flip that narrative completely, bringing himself up to a Z-Score of .43 in the category.
The Verdict
It is clear that McDaniels has been thriving in his new role on the Wolves, with his improvements also serving to boost his fantasy value in a way previously not thought to be possible. He is currently tallying career highs in nearly every category since 2025 began. This has manifested with boosts to his rebounding, blocks, steals, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, and even points.
Very rarely does someone improve every facet of their game, and McDaniels has managed to do so in what is widely considered to be a down year for the Wolves. He is ranked as the 47th player in the new year, with his numbers proving to provide a balanced profile that fits into almost any category league build.
Most impressively, McDaniels has actually seen a decline in usage over this span. To me, this serves as an even more exciting indicator of potential sustainability as a top 60-70 player, as he is being tasked with a highly repeatable role off of the ball and still finding elite value. Minnesota is a team in desperate need of role players capable of functioning at a high level, and McDaniels has been executing this task perfectly.
As of now, McDaniels is an undeniable add in every league with 12 teams and more. The worry with McDaniels is his sustainability in maintaining fantasy relevance, as he has often been a player to go on various top 60 runs before. What makes this time different?
It essentially boils down to the personnel changes made in the Minnesota rotations that have forced him to generate the stats expected from someone his size. And like the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” with the Wolves 6-4 record over their last 10 being in large part due to the breakout of McDaniels.
However, even should there be a risk of regression, his current level of play indicates that he is worth a speculative add at the least. There are very few players in the league capable of putting up an extended run of top-50 form while also being available in over 60% of fantasy leagues.
And while there might be some level of bias against McDaniels due to his streaky history (including from myself; I missed him in my league for that exact reason), there are times when darts have to be thrown, and the value provided by McDaniels is currently too overwhelming to ignore.