At the start of the fourth quarter against Cleveland last week, the unmistakable clang of rapper Nas’ “Made You Look” rang through Target Center. It was an invitation for the Minnesota Timberwolves fans in a tight contest against the Cavaliers and a symphonic celebration of the player who has captivated this crowd as much as any on the roster.
They rose out of their seats, 18,000 of them holding beach towels with the name that serves in these parts as a greeting, an expression of goodwill and a mission statement. Naz Reid.
Two Words. pic.twitter.com/9CWOdh4Mpe
— Michael Grady (@Grady) March 23, 2024
For so much of the season, Reid has been the leader of the Timberwolves bench, a leading NBA Sixth Man of the Year award candidate who can shoot the 3-pointer, break ankles on his way to the basket and adapt defensively to playing power forward after spending the first four seasons of his career almost exclusively at center.
Lately, he has stepped into the starting lineup to help boost the Timberwolves offense after Karl-Anthony Towns went down with a knee injury. He scored a team-leading 21 points with 10 rebounds and four assists in their 106-91 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. He is giving them everything as they chase after the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, a level that has special meaning to Reid after the dark early days of his career in Minnesota.
The Wolves won 42 games combined in Reid’s first two seasons. After beating the Pistons, they are 50-22 and just a half-game behind the Nuggets (51-22) for first place in the conference, with a showdown in Denver coming on Friday night.
“That’s special. From where this organization came from to where it is now, it’s come a long way,” Reid said. “Definitely super proud of our guys to put that best foot forward, competing and that’s a pat on our back, but we’re not done yet.”
Reid has come a long way, too. He was an undrafted free agent out of LSU in 2019, a highly touted recruit with a slick handle who proved hard to project to the NBA. Scouts thought he was too small to play center in the league and not quick enough to play power forward. But he worked to reshape his body and continued to refine his handle, which is as good as any big man in the league, to prove he belonged.
Even after showing so much promise in his first four seasons, there were still some questions surrounding the Timberwolves’ decision to sign him to a three-year, $42 million contract last summer. The Wolves already had two All-Star caliber bigs in Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns. But where some saw redundancy, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly saw too much skill to pass up.
Reid has delivered in a major way, averaging career highs in points (13.1) and rebounds (5.1) while delivering a massive spike in his 3-point shooting. He hit 34.6 percent of his 3s last season but is converting 42 percent of them on five attempts per game this season, a big reason why the Timberwolves are third in the NBA in long ball accuracy at 38.8 percent.
“He’s been an incredible story here,” coach Chris Finch said. “The way he’s from Day 1 changed his body, kept growing his game, plays with so much confidence and energy. Whether he starts or comes off the bench, teammates love him. He’s got so much skill.”
So much of that was on display against the Pistons, a trap game of sorts for the Wolves given Detroit’s league-worst 12-61 record and the looming face-off with the Nuggets on Friday. Anthony Edwards was off his game for most of the night, having difficulty summoning the required intensity against a team so far down the standings. Reid jumped right into the void, scoring 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first quarter to roust the Wolves.
10 PTS in the first quarter for Naz Reid. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/1Glgvz6UBV
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) March 28, 2024
Reid has grown accustomed this season to lighting his fires in a bench role. He will often check in for Gobert or Towns midway through the first quarter to a rousing ovation from the Target Center crowd, then reach deep into his bag of tricks to ignite the Wolves.
Finch inserted Reid into the starting lineup in Utah on March 16, wanting his shooting and transition game to jump-start a sluggish offense. Since then, Reid has averaged 19.6 points and the Wolves have won every game in which he has played — they lost to the Nuggets last week at home when he was out with a head injury.
“His defense has gone from strength to strength,” Finch said. “His rebounding, it’s just fun to watch him get better all the time, it really is.”
Reid has grabbed double-digit rebounds in three of his last five games. He also has improved his quickness and footwork enough to allow him to play defense against smaller, quicker power forwards, a story of talent development that has been crucial to their supersized roster experiment working to this point.
Two-man lineups featuring Reid and Gobert have a net rating of plus-13.8 points per 100 possessions, which is a defensive rating of 96.2 per NBA.com. For reference, Minnesota’s NBA-leading defensive rating for the season is 108.2. When he shares the floor with Towns, the net rating is plus-8.6.
The Wolves are 7-3 since Towns went down, in large part due to Reid’s ability to help fill the hole left by the All-Star’s torn meniscus. In Minnesota’s second game without KAT, Reid scored 34 points in an overtime loss to Cleveland. He scored 25 against the Lakers and put up 22 points, 12 boards and five assists in the win over the Jazz that thrust Reid back into the starting lineup.
“He can start, come off the bench. I know he wants that Sixth Man (award),” quipped Jaden McDaniels, who had another nice offensive game with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting. “We might have to switch it up.”
That pliability should earn him strong consideration for the award that goes to the best non-starter in the league. Sacramento’s Malik Monk is the other name most often mentioned in discussions about the award. Monk is averaging 15.6 points and shooting 44 percent from the field and 35 percent from 3. His explosive scoring touch helps him fit the profile for the award, often given to a high-scoring guard off the bench like Jamal Crawford or Lou Williams.
In this century, only three sixth-man winners could truly be categorized as bigs — Rodney Rogers in 2000, Corliss Williamson in 2002 and Montrezl Harrell in 2020. Antawn Jamison in 2004 is debatable. But Reid is shooting 48 percent from the field and 42 percent from 3, giving him better efficiency than Monk, who also averages 5.2 assists per game.
Reid prides himself on being unique. He does not fit the conventional label of “big” because of his ability to break a defender down off the dribble and space the floor with his 3-point shooting. But he wouldn’t characterize himself as a wing either because any time he gets a smaller player on him, he backs that person down into the paint and scores right over them.
What he takes most pride in this season is contributing to turning a longtime losing team into one of the best in the West. The Wolves have reached the 50-win plateau for just the fifth time in the franchise’s 35 seasons and the first since 2003-04. It took them 72 games to do it this season, the fastest they have ever done it.
“I think winning should reflect in (the voting) as well,” Reid said. “Obviously, you have the bigger impact and things like that, that go toward a winning record and higher seed in the playoffs. So, I think it should go in that aspect.”
If coaches voted on the award, Golden State’s Steve Kerr would likely be at the front of the line for Reid.
“He kills us. He’s the Warriors killer,” Kerr said before Reid went for 20 points and 12 rebounds in the win over the Warriors on Sunday. “He’s had so many good games against us. The spacing of the floor at that position makes things difficult.”
It remains to be seen when Towns will return from his knee injury. Reid’s ability to fill in as a starter ensures they do not lose much ground, if any, in the playoff race while also buoying their hopes for a deep run once they get there. One of the team’s biggest laments last season was that Reid and McDaniels both missed their first-round playoff loss to the Nuggets. The Wolves believe that the absences played a big role in the 4-1 series loss and that Reid in particular would have helped their second unit have a huge advantage over Denver’s subs.
Reid missed the series with a broken wrist but has been back with a vengeance this season. The beach towels that the team gave to fans who attended the game against the Cavaliers are going for as much as $100 on eBay. These starter minutes he is getting as the playoffs approach should only increase his visibility with the media members who vote on the NBA Sixth Man award. No matter the role he is playing, he will be ready.
“A fully healthy team with him coming off the bench, it’s pretty scary,” point guard Mike Conley said. “This is a good run for him. We’re happy with what he’s doing and hopefully, this keeps going.”
(Photo of Naz Reid: David Sherman / NBAE via Getty Images)
