{"id":96538,"date":"2024-09-19T09:53:37","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T13:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=96538"},"modified":"2024-09-19T09:56:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T13:56:00","slug":"timberwolves-sign-jaedon-ledee-can-he-stick-as-two-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/19\/timberwolves-sign-jaedon-ledee-can-he-stick-as-two-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Timberwolves Sign Award-Winner, Can He Stick As Two-Way?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed former San Diego State forward Jaedon LeDee to an Exhibit 10 contract, per HoopsHype insider Michael Scotto. Of note, the Timberwolves have one two-way spot remaining on their roster.<\/p>\n<p>LeDee, 25, was not among <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/09\/one-question-for-each-minnesota-timberwolves-rookie\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the 58 players selected<\/a> in the 2024 NBA Draft. However, he had an excellent 2023-24 campaign as a fifth-year senior, averaging 21.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game for the Aztecs.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with Jaedon LeDee, league sources told <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hoopshype?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@hoopshype<\/a>. LeDee played with Minnesota in Summer League. At San Diego State, LeDee won the 2024 Karl Malone Award, awarded to the best power forward in the nation. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NWDRefz3tm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/NWDRefz3tm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeAScotto\/status\/1836523491043967109?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As a reward for his play, LeDee won the 2024 Karl Malone Award winner, an honor given to the best power forward in college basketball. In 2023, Golden State Warriors stud <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jackstr02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trayce Jackson-Davis<\/a> won the award. In 2022, Sacramento Kings cornerstone <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murrake02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Keegan Murray<\/a> was the winner.<\/p>\n<p>To that point, though the Karl Malone Award isn\u2019t a predictor of success, recent history suggests that LeDee is a diamond in the rough.<\/p>\n<h2>Timberwolves Sign Jaedon LeDee, Can He Stick As Two-Way?<\/h2>\n<p>Because LeDee wasn\u2019t invited to the 2024 NBA Draft Combine, his real measurements may be different from what\u2019s officially listed.<\/p>\n<p>As it currently stands, the Houston native is 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds. Looking at him on film, it\u2019s not hard to believe, as he possesses a prototypical NBA frame. Where the Combine would\u2019ve truly helped is in assessments of his athleticism though. LeDee doesn\u2019t seem to be overly quick or explosive; timing his agility and vertical would\u2019ve been beneficial.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, he\u2019s definitely skilled. A three-level scorer, the Texan is comfortable scoring with his back to the basket, pulling up in the midrange, and spotting up behind the line. Furthermore, a player leading his conference in points per game is no small matter.<\/p>\n<p>In the NBA, he may be asked to play a reduced, small-ball stretch-four role. This is less because of his ability to than the nature of modern NBA offenses. On top of that, a team as deep as the Timberwolves already has multiple go-to scorers. However, LeDee made 44.4 percent of his 3-point attempts in 2023-24.<\/p>\n<p>If he can remain efficient while improving his volume, he could have a long career with just that skill alone.<\/p>\n<h3>His Potential Fit With Timberwolves<\/h3>\n<p>In examining the Timberwolves\u2019 roster, they don\u2019t necessarily <em>need<\/em> a rotation-caliber stretch-four per se. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/townska01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reidna01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Naz Reid<\/a> have both made over 36 percent of their 3s over the past two seasons. Yet, Reid made just 34.4 percent of his career 3s heading into 2023-24. Defensive stud <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcdanja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaden McDaniels<\/a> is a career 35.4 percent 3-point shooter.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, LeDee\u2019s impact on the boards and defensive upside aren\u2019t to be ignored. Strong, sturdy, and physical are all adjectives that can be used to describe his game. He\u2019s better at guarding in space than Reid, Towns, or<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/inglejo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Joe Ingles<\/a>. He\u2019s also attentive, focused not just on hounding his man but his technique.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, he could be just what the doctor ordered in Minnesota.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed former San Diego State forward Jaedon LeDee to an Exhibit 10 contract, per HoopsHype insider Michael Scotto. Of note, the Timberwolves have one two-way spot remaining on their roster. LeDee, 25, was not among the 58 players selected in the 2024 NBA Draft. However, he had an excellent 2023-24 campaign [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":96545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1608,62,556,3],"tags":[49608,98,297],"class_list":["post-96538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-timberwolves","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","category-news","tag-jaedon-ledee","tag-nba-draft","tag-nba-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}