Minnesota struggled mightily to defend without Rudy Gobert on the floor early this season. The rim protector-less frontcourt combination of Naz Reid and Julius Randle was getting torched nightly.
Then Timberwolves coach Chris Finch and Co. found a solution in the form of their 6-foot-5 bulldog. The presence of Jaylen Clark seems to be making all the difference for Minnesota.
When Minnesota tried to lean on Reid and Randle for its offense in the fourth quarter Saturday against Denver, with Clark on the bench, the Nuggets picked Minnesota’s defense apart while scoring 36 points in the final frame.
Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks brings the ball up court against Jaylen Clark #22 of the Minnesota Timberwolves during the third quarter at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 05, 2025 in New York City. Opponents are scoring just 103.3 points per possession when Clark is on the floor this season. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)
Since Oct. 26, the Randle-Reid combination has allowed 118 points per 100 possessions — a rough number.
But when Clark joins them on the floor, that dips to 106.3, which would equal the second-best defense in the NBA, behind only Oklahoma City.
How?
Clark noted if Minnesota allows opponents to get into the paint against those lineups, “we’re going to have problems.” So, he works to force the ball out of the opposing point guard’s hands. When he’s on the floor, it takes valuable extra seconds for teams to get into their offensive actions, if they can do so at all.
“I think he’s a guy that’s certainly feared. Guys don’t want to handle against him,” Finch said. “That changes the dynamic right away, makes teams adjust even before they are trying to do anything else — so just trying to kind of survive him.”
Clark, 24, leads the team in defensive rating, with Minnesota surrendering just 103.3 points per 100 possessions when he’s on the floor — just a tenth of a point off the Thunder’s team-wide pace, and fifth-best among non-Thunder players across the league — despite playing 39% of his minutes this season with the previously leaky Randle-Reid pairing.
It has commonly been stated that Gobert is a top-five defense unto himself. The data suggest Clark is entering the same realm.
Clark is fourth in the NBA in defensive field-goal percentage among guys who have played at least 10 games, with opponents he’s guarding shooting 36.4% from the floor. His estimated defensive plus-minus, per dunksandthrees.com, is plus-1.4, which ranks in the 93rd percentile in the league, just ahead of the likes of Jrue Holiday and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
The latter was a staple of Minnesota’s top-tier defense the past couple of seasons. Clark has replaced Alexander-Walker as the Wolves’ defensive sparkplug off the bench. Not only is he making life difficult on the opposing team’s best scorer on the floor when he’s out there, Clark also is stealing in-bounds passes, harassing ball-handlers and denying passes.
Veteran point guard Mike Conley said it’s “fun” playing defense alongside Clark, “because it’s unpredictable.”
“You don’t know if he’s going to get a steal on the inbounds, if he’s going to get a steal at halfcourt, full court — everything is live,” he said. “So, you’ve got to be ready to transition from defense to offense really quickly. You’ve got to be able to extend plays. We might miss a shot, and he’ll back tap a ball out of the rebounder’s hands, even other plays. So, you’ve always got to be alert, because the way he plays is so hectic and aggressive.”
Finch likened Clark to “a dog chasing a car” in that he doesn’t stop. There the wing was Monday in the fourth quarter of Minnesota’s blowout win over Dallas, still pressuring Mavericks ball handlers in a game the Wolves led by 30.
“He just keeps going, and that’s how he plays,” Finch said. “That’s what we love about him. He knows who he is, and he just does it to the absolute best of his ability all the time.”
Clark is second on the team in offensive-rebound rate behind only Gobert. He collects 7% of Minnesota’s missed shots. If there’s an energy play to be made, he’s on it.
“Jaylen just makes these plays out of nothing,” Finch said. “He’s super handsy. He’s active on the glass. He can make shots in a timely manner, but mostly just sets the tone. He can guard whoever you need him to. He gets a lot of loose balls, hands, deflections and momentum plays.”
Plays that inspire and ignite others.
So often, the definition of a superstar in basketball is someone who can make everyone around him better on the offensive end. Clark is having that same effect in other facets of the game.
Clark will almost certainly fall short of the minutes threshold required to earn All-NBA Defense consideration this season, but he’s quickly establishing himself as one of the NBA’s premier forces on that end of the floor.
“One of the more overlooked talents in the league … is guys that can create opportunities for you, whether that is offensive rebounding, defensively making plays where you’re getting deflections and steals, getting out in transition,” Conley said. “Those types of plays are what brings energy to our team and boosts the whole morale of the team, gets guys easy looks, second chances at opportunities. So, it’s something that he’s got a knack for naturally, and a big reason why he’s playing more and more.”
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