Jaden McDaniels

McDaniels is the kind of defender coaches build a game plan around — a 6-foot-9 wing with the length and foot speed to switch across positions and smother a lead ballhandler for a full possession. Minnesota grabbed him 28th in 2020 out of Washington and let his game marinate; by 2024 he was a full-time starter on a team that reached its first Western Conference Finals in twenty years, and his 2023-24 All-Defensive Second Team nod was recognition the tape had shown for a while. The quieter story of 2025-26 was the offense catching up: a career-high 14.8 points on 41.2% from three, which matters because it lets Minnesota keep its best perimeter stopper on the floor without surrendering spacing. The next step is trimming the foul trouble that still occasionally pulls him off it.