Timberwolves learn a Bones Hyland lesson they should have known all along

Now in his fifth season, Bones Hyland has already played for three different teams. A fourth, the Atlanta Hawks, then waived him after acquiring him. Both the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers started to sour on him and traded him away. He had to sign a two-way contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves at the end of last season to stay in the league.

Minnesota brought the 25-year-old back this season and Hyland has played a bigger role than most expected. Lately, the Timberwolves are learning what both the Nuggets and Clippers also discovered. Hyland can score, but expecting there to be any kind of consistency in his play isn’t reasonable because it’s never happened before.

Bones Hyland hasn’t built any momentum thanks to his season-high score

It was just under two weeks ago, on January 13, when the Timberwolves easily took care of business against the Milwaukee Bucks. In the huge win, Hyland dropped 23 points in just 21 minutes. That marked the first time all season that a bench player other than Naz Reid scored at least 20 points in an outing (Reid has done this nine times).

Since that performance, Minnesota has played four more games (all of which were losses). In those four games, Hyland has scored a total of twelve points, including seven in one game. Chris Finch barely allowed him more than four minutes of playing time against the Utah Jazz on January 20.

Since the beginning of December, Hyland has now played in 22 straight games. The 6-foot-1 guard scored in double figures nine times in that span. He has almost the same number of games (eight) in which he has scored four points or fewer.

That said, Hyland is still the team’s second-most reliable backup scorer at this point. Reid obviously tops the list, but any score from Mike Conley or Jaylen Clark is a bonus for Minnesota. It further shows why strengthening the bank is so necessary as the February 5 trade deadline quickly approaches.

His inconsistency is one of the reasons the Timberwolves need to improve their bench

There’s a reason the Timberwolves have been linked to a number of players who could potentially be acquired via trade. Looking at Minnesota, who besides Reid could Finch bring off the bench once the playoffs roll around to give him reliable minutes when the pressure cooker ramps up?

In the first two postseason runs of his career, Hyland scored, but inefficiently. In the 2024 playoffs with the Clippers, he was left out of the rotation.

For now, Finch will continue to insert Hyland into games. The minutes will fluctuate, just like before. One or two additions before the trade deadline could potentially sideline Hyland for entire games.