“This guy right here.”
That was Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards’ answer to a question about how his team responded against the reigning NBA champs. Minnesota had lost three straight to the Nuggets, were facing elimination in Game 6 of the Western Conference semis Thursday, and needed a spark that went beyond the All-Star trio of Edwards, Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns.
So in came a 23-year-old from Federal Way, whose yearlong stint at Washington was more tumultuous than it was triumphant.
“This guy right here” — was Jaden McDaniels.
McDaniels is a long way from PNW royalty despite the success he had at Federal Way High. Prized as he was coming out of high school (he was a top-10 recruit nationally) he made little impact in his sole year at UW.
It’s not that he didn’t post numbers — 13.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks as a freshman are commendable stats. But it seemed like there were as many blowups as there were layups, and that became irksome for anybody watching.
At one point, McDaniels led the Pac-12 in technical fouls, having picked up five with half of the conference schedule still left to play. He led the league in personal fouls at one point as well.
There also was the 2.1-to-3.2 assist-to-turnover ratio, a .405 shooting percentage that underscored questionable shot selection, and of course — a 5-13 Pac-12 record that served as the worst in the conference.
It’s doubtful many around these parts thought of McDaniels as a raw talent that could be molded into a starter on a championship-contending NBA team. They likely saw him as the frontman for the downturn of Huskies basketball, which would continue for the next several seasons before coach Mike Hopkins’ firing.
It probably wasn’t a surprise that McDaniels — considered the eighth-best recruit in the country — dipped all the way to 28th in the NBA draft. Actually, the surprise may have been that he went in the first round at all.
But the Lakers took him and traded him to the T-wolves via the Thunder. And in Minnesota he averaged 6.8 points as a rookie while starting seven games, and 9.2 the next year while starting 31. Then came a breakout last season, when he posted 12.1 points on 51.7 percent shooting — including 39.8% from three — starting all 79 games that he played in.
The reward? A five-year, $136-million contract extension.
This goes well beyond offensive output, by the way. The 6-foot-9 McDaniels can effectively guard any position but a traditional center. He doesn’t have a lot of blocks or steals, but to make an NFL comparison — the best cornerbacks don’t always have a lot of picks.
Speaking of picks, it’s not that late selections in the NBA don’t go on to have productive (and lucrative) careers. Denver big man Nikola Jokic — who has won league MVP three of the past four years — was the 11th pick of the second round. But McDaniels’ ascent from a hothead at UW to a headache for NBA opponents couldn’t have been easy to predict.
Thursday, McDaniels scored 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting — including 3 of 5 from deep — to help Minnesota even the series with Denver at three games apiece. This comes after two wins vs. Phoenix in the first round — one in which he had 25 points and another in which he had 18.
These are big-time numbers on a stacked lineup, and likely a harbinger of bigger things to come.
“How crucial was providing that kind of production for this team to force a Game 7?” McDaniels was asked on ESPN Thursday.
“Just not wanting to go home,” he said. “My teammates got confidence in me, Ant [Edwards] gives me the most confidence to just go out and play my game and hoop.”
The T-wolves are going to need just about everyone on the roster to play the best version of their games Sunday. The reigning-champion Nuggets have won three of the past four in this series, have the best player in the world in Jokic, and will enjoy home-court advantage.
But Minnesota can win. As I’ve said before, McDaniels is not royalty in the Pacific Northwest yet. There is an opportunity for his team to wear the crown, though. The Timberwolves have All-Stars galore in that lineup, but the man who can push them over the top?
Take a look at a photo of McDaniels — that guy right there.
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