Deep Dive: Jordan McLaughlin Is Minnesota's Change Of Pace

Minnesota's backup point guard provides more than just rest for the starters.

Creator: Hannah Foslien | Credit: Getty Images

There’s something about Jordan McLaughlin. It’s not the thing that makes a star player twinkle to all who witness them and it’s not the quality that makes a young prospect’s future seem unendingly mouth-watering. It’s not even something that you can ever quite put your finger on. You feel it, though. And as the 2021-22 season transpired, that intangible impact began to fester and permeate throughout the Minnesota Timberwolves roster.

The 26-year-old finished his third season in the most solidified role he has ever experienced in his short NBA career, underlining and emboldening his influence by averaging 9.0 points, 3.3 assists and 1.7 steals on 71.4 percent shooting (all in just 18.8 minutes per game) over Minnesota’s final three playoff outings.

Now, with the wind still flapping in his sails and Patrick Beverley now plying his trade in Tinseltown, McLaughlin has his mitts firmly clasped around Minnesota’s backup point guard position for the upcoming season.

Again, it’s not the consistent dominance that Karl-Anthony Towns shows. It’s certainly not the overpowering explosiveness of Anthony Edwards. It’s nothing in that realm whatsoever. He doesn’t live in that star-level sphere. He doesn’t even exist in the box score-heavy universe. He lives in the world of incessant energy and under-the-radar basketball mastery. And that stuff matters.