On Monday, ESPN posted an article entitled “NBA All-in Tiers: What All 30 Teams hunt in 2025-26”. Written by Tim Bontemps and Kevin Pelton, the Timberwolves were in the All-in … win a championship before the window closes low. The article states how, although their best player in Anthony Edwards is only 24, they have traded a lot of their draft capital, are confronted with possible issues of the second apron and soon have to find replacements for Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert.
About Brian Windhorst’s most recent episode of his podcast, The Hope CollectiveWindhorst had Bontemps and Tim Macmahon as guests. The three responded to the layer list.
Macmahon is worried about Dillingham
As soon as the three came to the Timberwolves, Macmahon brought how the biggest question for the franchise the point guard of the future is. Macmahon said this then About Rob Dillingham, who will introduce his second NBA season.
“I think Rob Dillingham is much more Lou Williams than Chris Paul. And Lou Williams had a great NBA career, quality player. But my point is, I think he is a substandard bank bucket and not a Run-Your team Point Guard.”
Tim Macmahon
Minnesota probably had a long-term starting point guard in their mind when they acquired Dillingham during the NBA design of 2024. They treated their first round picks in 2030 and 2031 to get the eighth overall choice (2030 is an option for the Spurs to exchange the first round picks).
Dillingham is only 20 years old
Let’s not forget that Dillingham is only 20 years old (becomes 21 on January 4). Giving up believing in him only because his smoking year was an uneven, would be ridiculous. The Celtics exchanged Chauncey Billups, a future MVP final, halfway through his Rookie year after he was selected in third place, and it is certain that they regretted that for years. Steve Nash, a future back-to-back MVP winner, on average no less than 3.3 points and 2.1 assists as a rookie.
Dillingham on average a solid 6.8 assists per 36 minutes last season. The 3.7 turnover per 36 is a number that he wants to reduce, but again, it is 20 years old. Improvement can and must be expected. In the six games he played for more than 20 minutes, he had a total of 29 assists to 12 turnover, a much better ratio than when Dillingham saw short action.
In a season where Conley will be 38 years old, and after the team has seen his game fall lately, it is expected that Dillingham will see much more playing time. After this year there will be much more evidence about what kind of player he can be for Minnesota for the long term.
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