Golden State Warriors: Five Opening Night matchups

Minnesota Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves might have had the best offseason in the NBA. With a fantastic young duo in Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, the Wolves went out and got a veteran All-Star that can help take Minny to the next level. Jimmy Butler gives them a whole new element.

The Wolves are young and exciting. They could take the next step and become a playoff team with Butler. It would be a fun challenge for the Warriors.

If it wasn’t for a last minute Stephen Curry shot, Golden State would have fallen to the Wolves during last year’s regular season. They can play. And, more importantly, their amazing star, Towns, isn’t afraid of anyone.

This could very well be a preview of a playoff matchup. While it’s safe to say that–barring injury–Minnesota will be better than last year, it’s anyone’s guess how good they’ll actually be. And that goes beyond their record.

There will be an adjustment period where Towns and Wiggins will have to learn how to incorporate Butler. Furthermore, the former Chicago star needs to learn how to play off of Towns. So they might get off to a slow start as they go through that process.

Draymond Green going head-to-head with Towns would be fun as he’s one of the few players that could learn how to overpower the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year. They also added Jeff Teague, a solid point guard that will make his teammates better and do the title things to win. Then, of course, they have strong wings that aren’t Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, but they’re still really good.

The Warriors and Wolves could be a relevant matchup within the next year or two. This would be a good start.