The Timberwolves began training camp earlier this week, and now the first opportunity for fans to see the 2025-26 team in action comes on Saturday night when they begin their six-game preseason schedule. The Wolves are in San Diego to take on the Denver Nuggets in a neutral-site contest this weekend.
Saturday’s game is at 8 p.m. central time (6 p.m. local). It will not be televised on FanDuel Sports Network North, so the only way to watch is to catch the Nuggets’ Altitude TV broadcast through NBA League Pass.
Alan Horton will call the game on Timberwolves radio, which can be found on KFAN FM 100.3, the Timberwolves app, or the iHeart Radio app.
Why are the Timberwolves and Nuggets playing a preseason game in San Diego? I’m not sure there’s an obvious answer to that question, but it’ll give fans in the area a rare chance to see an NBA game, albeit an exhibition contest. Pechanga Arena, the site for this game, hosted NBA and ABA basketball for most of the time period from when it opened in 1966 through when the Clippers left San Diego in 1984. Since then, it’s hosted things like minor league hockey, indoor football, indoor soccer, and lacrosse.
The Timberwolves and Nuggets have formed quite the rivalry over the past few years. They met in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, when Denver beat Minnesota in five games on its way to a championship. The two teams met again in the second round the following year, and the Wolves famously rallied for a major deficit to win Game 7 in thrilling fashion and advance to the Western Conference Finals. Both teams were eliminated in the playoffs by the Thunder last season.
Chris Finch will presumably give most of his roster an opportunity to play in this game and throughout the preseason. We should see the starters early on — and it’ll be interesting to see if Mike Conley still starts at the 1 alongside Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, and Rudy Gobert. The top bench options will also rotate in, and the second half figures to include plenty of playing time for young players like Terrence Shannon Jr., Rob Dillingham, Jaylen Clark, and rookies Joan Beringer and Rocco Zikarsky.
Minnesota’s entire 21-player preseason roster can be found here. The only player we know will be unavailable is forward Leonard Miller, who has a significant finger laceration and might miss the entire preseason.
