MINNEAPOLIS — Four years ago, Patrick Beverley was certain he knew exactly what Jaden McDaniels needed to take the next step in his career. At the time, Beverley was a boisterous presence in the Minnesota Timberwolves locker room and he would not stop telling anyone who would listen just what this quiet, under-the-radar, late first-round draft pick was capable of becoming.
McDaniels reminded Beverley so much of another understated forward with ultra-long arms, defensive versatility and all the offensive skill you could ask for that he had played with in Los Angeles.
“C’mon, Pat,” people would say to him. “You think Jaden McDaniels can be like Kawhi Leonard?”
Beverley never blinked while insisting that yes, McDaniels could be another Kawhi. Beverley spent two years on the Clippers with Leonard, advancing to the Western Conference finals in 2021. When Beverley came to Minnesota the following season, McDaniels was in his second year and still trying to establish himself in the league.
Beverley promised to get McDaniels and Leonard together for summer workouts, believing that the commonalities would be productive for Jaden as he tried to find his way and avoid being pigeon-holed as just another 3-and-D wing.
McDaniels linked up with Leonard last summer, getting together in Los Angeles for some offseason work in what had to be one of the quietest gyms in America.
Kawhi Leonard and Jaden McDaniels practiced together this morning in San Diego🔥 pic.twitter.com/aiTUym2Jcx
— clippa twitta (@clipfullyloaded) August 20, 2025
Neither player is much for small talk. Both let their hooping speak for them.
In his sixth season in the NBA, McDaniels’ game is louder than ever. Leonard saw it first-hand on Saturday night, when McDaniels scored 12 of his 27 points in the third quarter to roust the Timberwolves from a first-half slumber en route to their fifth straight victory, this one a 109-106 win over the Clippers.
McDaniels has long had a reputation as one of the league’s better perimeter defenders, but he has often been viewed as a one-dimensional player, until this season. He is averaging a career-high 16 points per game while shooting a blistering 48.5 percent from 3-point range, a number that looks less and less insane with each confident, no-hesitation stroke he unleashes, now more than a quarter of the way into the season.
JADEN. JMAC. SLIM. WHATEVER YOU CALL HIM.
HE’S ON 🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/7tsdmxFTsM
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 7, 2025
McDaniels was 10 for 13 (77 percent) from the field against the Clippers, the ninth time this season he has made at least 60 percent of his shots and fourth time he’s topped 70 percent.
“I’m taller than everybody, so it always seems that I’m open, for real,” McDaniels said with his trademark shrug.
None of this is remarkable to him. He has long been one of the hardest workers on the team, toiling all summer long with his best buddy, Naz Reid, to make sure he is known for more than just his defensive prowess. He will not be painted into the corner, where so many defensive-minded wings are epoxied so they can take the shortest possible 3-point shot to make themselves useful on offense.
McDaniels is showing that he is so much more. In those workouts with Leonard, when the two did actually talk, the two-time NBA Finals MVP told McDaniels how important it was to not be in a rush on offense.
“Just not letting the defense speed you up, play at your pace at all times,” McDaniels said about what Leonard told him. “And that’s something I took from him and just staying at your own pace. I don’t want to give out too much because, you know.”
Leonard may be diminished these days by health, but there is no disputing his understanding of the game and how to own it. When he is healthy and at his best, he hunts opponents with a cold relentlessness that borders on sociopathic. There is no fluff in his game, no need to justify his greatness with words when the rings, the stats and the money do all of that and more.
The similarities between the two players in terms of demeanor are uncanny, the Spider-Man meme come to life. Leonard wasn’t an All-Star until his fifth season, but did get a crash course in professionalism and success while playing with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker in San Antonio.
McDaniels’ development has been more gradual. He was drafted by a team that won 23 games his rookie season, but has quickly become an annual contender in the Western Conference. He hovered around 33 percent from 3 for most of his first five seasons in the league, and drew chuckles from some around the league when it was revealed that the Timberwolves preferred to put more draft capital into the trade package for Rudy Gobert in 2022 rather than send McDaniels to Utah.
He may not be Leonard yet as a consistent, go-to offensive player. But the Wolves’ up-and-down start to this season has been highlighted by McDaniels taking a major step down that path. His efficiency is coming with a high degree of difficulty. The shots on which he is thriving are not just dunks or catch-and-shoot 3s. They are being generated by his improved handle and his ability rise up over anyone in front of him for a clean look at the basket.
“We see it every day. He works on his game,” Mike Conley said. “He’s 6-10, dang near. Most of those shots look difficult. But for him, he doesn’t see anybody guarding him.”
sheeeeesh, JMac 😳 pic.twitter.com/LqEy8REvlZ
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 7, 2025
It was the sixth time this season that McDaniels has topped 20 points in a game, and this was one of the first times that he was a true focal point of the offense and not just a wingman. The Wolves were struggling mightily offensively in the first half, scoring just 42 points and turning the ball over 10 times to fall behind by as many as 18.
The Clippers did a great job of making things difficult for Anthony Edwards (15 points on 3-for-11 shooting with five turnovers) and turning Julius Randle into an iso player. So coach Chris Finch started putting the ball in McDaniels’ hands more in the third quarter. He made all five of his shots, including his only 3, helping the Wolves trim a 14-point halftime deficit to six by the end of the quarter.
“He carried us tonight,” Conley said. “He really took the game over.”
Finch then rode McDaniels for the entire fourth quarter, which the Wolves won, 37-28, to put away the lively Clippers (6-18) on the second night of a back-to-back. As he walked down the Clippers with an expressionless face and a bag of mid-range jumpers, McDaniels kept those lessons he learned from Leonard at the forefront of his mind.
“I really just be patient and take the shot I want to take, no matter how much pressure the defense is playing,” he said. “Just being poised.”
Once McDaniels got the Wolves offense going, Reid erupted for 14 points in the final quarter to push them over the top. He went 4 for 4 from 3-point range, including one from the corner with 13.5 seconds left that gave Minnesota a 107-104 lead.
Big Jelly. bigger bucket. 🍇 pic.twitter.com/yYzaEl57oH
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 7, 2025
Reid finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, the last of which came on one of McDaniels’ few misses, with the game tied at 104 and 19.5 seconds left. The ball then swung around the horn to Reid in the corner.
“You’re not really in that position a lot, especially when you get the chance to and you gotta have all the … you know the word … to make the shot and take the shot,” Reid said. “It was fun. It was exciting.”
Randle had 24 points and six assists, Jaylen Clark came off the bench with a couple of big 3-point plays and Conley was a plus-14 in 18 essential minutes for the Wolves (15-8).
Leonard scored 20 points on 8-for-17 shooting, some of those misses coming from contests by McDaniels. James Harden had 34 points and six assists for the Clippers.
McDaniels certainly is not on Leonard’s level yet. Leonard is a six-time All-Star, two-time Defensive Player of the Year and has won championships as a supporting cast member in San Antonio and The Man in Toronto. But McDaniels is, ever so quietly, trying to follow in Leonard’s footsteps as a demon on defense and a master of the midrange on offense.
“What he’s bringing to us is huge,” Donte DiVincenzo said. “Throughout the game, sometimes we’re all looking for a spark and he delivers. Sometimes we’re looking to put our foot on the neck and he delivers. And sometimes we’re looking for just some steadiness throughout the game. He’s been doing everything we’ve asked him to do and what’s expected of him.”
