AMES, IA - OCTOBER 7: LaMelo Ball #1 and Jonathan Kuminga #24 of the Minnesota Timberwolves high five during the game against the Indiana Pacers on October 7, 2026 at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images The preseason continues on Sunday in full swing with a preview of the regular season opener. The Timberwolves will look to continue their good vibes from training camp and gain the meaningless “upper hand” against the Miami Heat before the rematch kicks off the 2026-27 regular season. --- Game Info * Who:Minnesota Timberwolves (1-1) at Miami Heat (2-0) * When: Saturday, October 10 at 7:00 PM CT * Where: Kaseya Center – Miami, Florida * TV: DAZN-MIN * Radio: 830 WCCO --- Precursor to game #1 It seems interesting to schedule a preseason game against two teams that will begin their respective seasons against one another, but it will be something to watch for in this one. While the regular starters and rotation players will most likely only play the first half, if at all, tracking if either team tips their hand will be something to monitor. Because of the offseason movement for both teams, with the Heat adding Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Timberwolves subtracting Julius Randle and Naz Reid from the mix, this is the exact type of team that Minnesota could struggle with in their attempt to reconfigure their roster to a smaller, more athletic team. The Heat boast possibly the best frontcourt in the NBA and how the Wolves choose to guard Miami from the jump will be something to follow in this matchup. "I'm excited to put on that jersey." 🔥 Giannis will make his Heat debut vs. the Timberwolves on Wednesday, Oct. 21 on ESPN! (via: @MiamiHEAT) https://t.co/uR0ZSKNKWhpic.twitter.com/WgKmw2TR4F— NBA (@NBA) August 11, 2026 --- Joan Beringer Thrown into the Fire Joan Beringer has a large role carved out for him this season. That combined with his youth and minimal playing time last season has coalesced to be a huge talking point leading up to this season. Beringer has done exactly what you’d expect from him in the first couple of preseason games: showed flashes of huge potential while combining that with very bad stretches that come with the growing pains of acclimating to the NBA. This goes hand in hand with Miami’s reworked strength in the frontcourt. The 19 year old will be relied upon to matchup in the first half with both of these dominant bigs. How he fares in this one will be a big part of the lead-in to game number one when it counts. Always take preseason outcomes with a massive grain of salt, but tracking Beringer against Giannis and Bam before the season opener is something to be on the lookout for. Anthony Edwards on Joan Beringer in camp “Everybody knows his intensity is just like no other. His attention to detail has gotten a lot better, he’s super young, super athletic. We’re trying to keep him from falling on the ground so much because he goes after every shot. Get his… pic.twitter.com/x7vwcpSwp9— Andrew Dukowitz (@adukeMN) October 4, 2026 --- Ant and LaMelo Hype Train These first two preseason games have been a treat for Timberwolves fans who were hoping for a reworked offense with this new look roster. Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball have done their best to continue that hype train heading straight up. On Wednesday against the Pacers, Ant scored 19 points with four triples while LaMelo scored 14 points and added seven assists to his stat line. Though Ball did have five turnovers, it was still an extremely fun time to watch the two of them play off one another and launch treys from downtown. This was the exciting theoretical fit between them, and watching Ball operate from the top of the floor and setup the rest of his teammates is night and day compared to what Minnesota looked like for the past two seasons. This will hopefully continue to be a big part of their identity moving forward. With the rim protection that the Miami frontcourt can provide, the Wolves’ outside shooting will be necessary to create good offense for the Timberwolves. LaMelo Ball & Anthony Edwards together is going to be so scary 😯 pic.twitter.com/3hGnmBRiSC— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 7, 2026 --- Prediction It will be a clash of styles, but with the looming early season regular season matchup, both teams will do their best to not show their hands. Minnesota’s outside shooting should cause Miami problems, and due to them losing a lot of their depth in the Giannis trade, the Wolves end of bench should get the better of Miami in the second half. Wolves 121, Heat 111

El mercado NBA acelera: Kuminga llega a Minnesota, Green se va a Utah y Duren sigue pendiente mientras agosto deja movimientos de mucho peso.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed power forward Jonathan Kuminga to a two-year, $12.4 million contract. The deal was confirmed by an anonymous source close to the team. Kuminga, a 24-year-old for… · Photo : greggoconnell · CC BY · Flickr

In the end, Jonathan Kuminga was willing to take less money per year to get back on the market sooner rather than take a longer contract with more guaranteed money. After intense recruiting from Anthony Edwards and others, Kuminga has agreed to join the Timberwolves on a two-year, $13 million contract, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN. Kuminga stepped into the taxpayer mid-level exception the Timberwolves still had available. This is a recruiting coup for the Timberwolves, who put on a full-court press in the last month, Charania reported. That included Edwards and other players, as well as team president Tim Connelly, who reportedly had a four-hour meeting with him. Kuminga is expected to step into the starting lineup at the three next to LaMelo Ball, Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert. The Lakers had been pursuing Kuminga to become a starter next to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, and they were trying to work out a sign-and-trade with Atlanta, but that would have required Kuminga to sign at least a three-year contract instead of the two in Minnesota. Plus, the Lakers and Hawks struggled to come close to a trade that worked for both sides for a variety of reasons (such as the Hawks wanting picks but not taking on players). Kuminga did not find as robust a market for his services as he expected this summer. Atlanta chose not to pick up his $24.3 million team option, and Kuminga initially hoped for a deal in the ballpark, or at least north of $15 million. Eventually, it became about the shorter contract and the opportunity to play on a team with big expectations and to prove his value in that setting that lured him to Minnesota. Kuminga started last season with Golden State, where he had been in and out of Steve Kerr's doghouse for years, then was traded to Atlanta at the deadline. While he had a couple of big games with the Hawks, he averaged 12.3 points and 5.3 rebounds a game for them, mostly coming off the bench, and he shot 34.6% from beyond the arc. Minnesota's starting five is stacked with talent — and three guys who work better with the ball in their hands rather than working off it. Kerr's issues with Kuminga largely came down to fitting into the Warriors' ball-movement, egalitarian system. Minnesota's coach Chris Finch is going to have work to do to find a balance that keeps everyone happy — which could mean Kuminga leading the second unit at points — but gives the team the best chance to win. It may take some time at the start of the season to find that rhythm. With Kuminga in the starting five, this is an offensively stacked Minnesota roster.

Klay Thompson ficha por Miami y el mercado NBA se agita con DeRozan, Harden y varios agentes libres que pueden cambiar el tablero de la liga.

Klay Thompson is heading to Miami. Peyton Watson is going to Cleveland on a sign-and-trade. With Watson locked up, James Harden has agreed to re-sign with the Cavaliers. DeMar DeRozan will play next season with the Denver Nuggets. The free agent market is thinning out, but there are still three very interesting names still unsigned. While two of them are restricted free agents, there are plenty of questions surrounding them now. Let's get into where things stand with Jalen Duren, Jonathan Kuminga and Bennedict Mathurin. Jalen Duren (restricted) Detroit is trying to walk a fine line with Jalen Duren: Save money but keep the All-NBA big man happy and in the Motor City. So far, it has not gone well, and the question becomes, will it backfire? So far, negotiations between the sides have been "noxious," as one league source put it to NBC Sports. ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill put it this way recently on "The Hoop Collective" podcast: "There's certain things that a player should not have to hear. You know what I mean? There's certain things that a player does not have to hear when the messaging comes back about why you're not getting what you believe to be your value." Duren believes he is a max player. While internally the Pistons may think Ausar Thompson is their second most important player (he is also extension-eligible), in practice Duren was the second-best player on a 60-win team last season, averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game while playing elite defense in the paint. He was a first-time All-Star and All-NBA player, a guy who has strong on-court chemistry with Cade Cunningham. This team does not win 60 games last season without him. The All-NBA nod makes Duren eligible for a "Rose rule" contract of up to 30% of this season's salary cap (a max of five years, $287 million), although he will likely be happy with the 25% max of $239 million over five years (what Victor Wembanyama took this summer). All that ignores the playoffs. When things got physical and intense in the playoffs, Duren was a shell of the guy from the regular season. Duren averaged just 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game and had a negative plus/minus for the postseason. By midway through the second-round series against Cleveland, Duren was finding himself benched in key minutes for third-string center Paul Reed, who was much more of a positive impact. Pistons fans were begging for less Duren and more Reed. Because of that performance, the Pistons reportedly are offering something in the lower $30 million-a-year range. Duren's camp will rightfully push back, noting that is what the Lakers just paid Walker Kessler ($32.5 million a season average), and he hasn't accomplished anything yet. Alperen Sungun got five years, $185 million from Houston a season ago ($37 million a season average), and the Pistons are offering less. Duren's only other option is to play for the $9.6 million qualifying offer, which would make him an unrestricted free agent next season and give him veto power over any trades. However, that would be a huge risk for Duren. Even at the Pistons' "lowball" offer, that's something in the ballpark of $130 million over four years — that's generational wealth and a lot of money to leave on the table at age 22, risking a severe fluke injury or a bad season that takes money off the table next summer. The sides have until the start of training camp to figure this out, but the concern is that the bad blood from these negotiations will spill into the season no matter the outcome. There should be a middle ground. Something for five years in the $190-$200 million range seems fair considering Duren's value but playoff struggles, but we'll see where this lands. And how much bad blood there is when all is said and done. Jonathan Kuminga Kuminga's options are increasingly limited. With Watson headed to Cleveland, that sign-and-trade destination is off the table for the athletic wing and shrinks his choices. Two teams are at the table: The Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Which team is in the driver's seat depends on which source one talks to. Ultimately, Kuminga is stuck because it's highly unlikely he's going to get the money he wants — Atlanta did not pick up his $24.3 million team option and Kuminga initially hoped for a deal in the ballpark, or at least above the mid-level exception. He turned down the Lakers' early offer of two years, $20 million, with a key role on the team to boost his value and a deal that gets him back on the market quickly, but Kuminga reportedly rejected that because he thought it was a lowball. Now, he might be lucky to get that. The Lakers and Hawks talked sign-and-trade earlier this summer, but those talks stalled out because Atlanta is not looking to add salary (it is only $3.8 million below the luxury tax line, and Kuminga currently counts as zero for them). Or, at least Atlanta is not interested without a quality draft pick as an incentive, and the Lakers would not go there. Also, Atlanta currently has 17 players under contract heading into training camp and needs to shed at least two, not add players. The Lakers and Hawks are talking sign-and-trade again, with guard Jaden Hardey reportedly in the conversation (he makes $6 million this season), while previously that was Jared Vanderbilt ($12.4 million). Kuminga's other issue? Any sign-and-trade contract has to be for at least three years. That would lock him into a deal he believes is below his market value for longer than he wants. Which is why Minnesota sits there, with $6 million of its mid-level exception that he can walk right into, no sign-and-trade. He'd get to play with LaMelo Ball and Anthony Edwards. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst put it this way on his Hoop Collective Podcast: "Watch the Wolves in the next couple days... It's still open, there's still a window for the Lakers to do a Kuminga sign-and-trade. A sign-and-trade has to be three years. Now that these other doors are closing, the Timberwolves can close that deal and sign Kuminga." Kuminga reportedly likes the idea of playing for the Lakers — who would start him at the four — as a better fit. But is he? Kuminga wants to be a scorer, he's wanted the ball in his hands. In Los Angeles, where Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have the ball, will he fit into the system and play a role? It's the same question in Minnesota. Before you say "of course he will," remember that clash was at the core of his issues with Steve Kerr in Golden State. Bennedict Mathurin (restricted) This is a much more complex situation, in part because of the limbo the Clippers are in with the Aspiration investigation ongoing and, with that, the Kawhi Leonard-to-Toronto trade, which is hung up. Last season, Mathurin showed his potential as a scorer after coming to the Clippers from Indiana in the Ivica Zubac trade, averaging 17.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in the 26 games he played. He also showed his weaknesses, shooting 20.7% from 3-point range, and with nearly as many turnovers as assists. The Clippers have said they are interested in bringing him back (at a price they like), but their actions have said he is not a priority. If/when the Leonard trade goes through, the Clippers will have 17 contracts on the roster (although Cam Christie's is non-guaranteed), they already have to trade or waive players a couple of players before the season starts, and that is without Mathurin in the fold. There have been teams poking around a sign-and-trade — Chicago, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Detroit and Dallas have been rumored — but nothing has come of that so far. Mathurin's best option could be to play for his $8.8 million qualifying offer and become a free agent next offseason. Unlike Duren, Mathurin isn't leaving hundreds of millions on the table doing so, he can prove he deserves more and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. However, that comes with a risk. Playing for the qualifying offer last season worked out for Quentin Grimes (signed for four years, $60 million with the Lakers), but Cam Thomas did as well and is without a contract this season as of now. Mathurin doesn't have to make that call until Oct. 1, so he can let things play out and then make a call, but that option is on the table.