5 takeaways from the Timberwolves' preseason loss to Bulls

The Minnesota Timberwolves dropped a closely contested preseason game to the Chicago Bulls 125-123 at the United Center on Wednesday night.

The outcome isn't as important as some of the storylines heading into and during the game, which included Julius Randle's Timberwolves debut and the Chicago Bulls' Lonzo Ball returning to the court for the first time in over two years.

Minnesota has one more preseason game on Thursday night against the Denver Nuggets at the Target Center. None of the starters are expected to play as it's on a back-to-back due to the Minnesota Lynx playing a home WNBA Finals game on Friday against the New York Liberty.

Follow us on Facebook

Here's a look at five things that stood out for Wolves against the Bulls.

Related: 5 things that stood out in Timberwolves' preseason loss to Knicks at MSG

Julius Randle's debut

Randle finally made his debut in a Wolves uniform against the Bulls and his return to an NBA game since April after dealing with a shoulder injury.

Randle played over 26 minutes, hitting 50% of his shots from the floor (6-for-12, putting up 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. He also added a steal and was 3-for-4 from the free throw line while turning the ball over twice.

The forward showed off his aggressiveness in getting to the rim, while also showing his abilities as a playmaker in finding the open man.

It was the first time the Wolves had all of their starters on the floor together, which at times looked clunky and rusty. It's to be expected, as the chemistry has flipped following the Karl-Anthony Towns trade late last month.

The starters consisted of Randle. Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert.

Naz Reid inactive

Reid was listed as inactive heading into the matchup, a decision made by head coach Chris Finch.

The Star Tribune 's Chris Hine said Finch told him Reid has a "shoulder impingement" and wouldn't play Wednesday night. Finch stated that the move would be a cautious one as the team doesn't consider the 25-year-old's injury a serious one.

Related: Anthony Edwards talks up a big future for himself, Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels.

It's safe to say Reid likely won't play in Thursday night's preseason game against the Nuggets if the team is playing it cautious moving forward. He's played in three preseason games already, averaging around 18 minutes, 13 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

If the shoulder is nagging enough to keep him out against Denver, he has until Tuesday's season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers to get right and back on the court.

Josh Minott continues to impress

Minott will surely see some considerable minutes this season as he played another fine game on Wednesday night.

In nearly 22 minutes, Minott dropped a team-high 18 points on 70% shooting from the field (7-for-10), hitting 75% of his three-point attempts (3-for-4), three rebounds, a steal and block. He also was tied with Luka Garza for the best plus/minus (14) on the Wolves.

Across four preseason games, Minott has averaged 14.5 points per game on 76.4% true shooting and 5.5 rebounds per game.

Minott's shooting has improved leaps and bounds, proving his worth for Minnesota. He will simply add more depth to an already deep bench and could be an improvement from someone of a similar build that left via trade with Golden State: Kyle Anderson.

Anthony Edwards' rough shooting night

This is what the preseason is for, right?

Edwards was letting it fly but not much was going in for the young star, shooting 6-for-23 from the field (26.1%) and 3-for-16 from the three-point line (18.8%). He finished with 16 points on the night in 30 minutes.

He matched his career high in regular season play for three-pointers attempted, as h did so against the Houston Rockets on Jan. 21, 2023.

Edwards launched 10 three-pointer attempts in the first half alone, as it's a sign that he's bound to keep launching them at a higher rate this season

Four players hardly saw action, 5 others didn't see any

Four Timberwolves didn't play much until late in the fourth quarter and five others didn't see any time on the court.

Rookies Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. were among the five who saw less than six minutes of playing time each, along with PJ Dozier. The other was Jaylen Clark, who only played for four seconds.

Five Timberwolves who didn't play based on Finch's decision was Keita Bates-Diop, Jesse Edwards, Leonard Miller, Daishen Nix and Eugene Omoruyi.

It'll be interesting to keep an eye on these names heading into the final preseason game on Thursday night as none of the starters are expected to play and players who have solidified a roster spot aren't expected to play much. Jesse Edwards, Nix and Omoruyi are likely to be fighting for the final roster spot as well.