Joan Beringer is getting a larger look in Minnesota’s final regular-season games, and the rookie big man used Wednesday’s loss to Orlando to flash one of his best nights of the season. Beringer grabbed eight rebounds in 23 minutes, with half of them coming on the offensive glass, while Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle were both out.
The 17th pick has spent most of his rookie campaign in limited bursts, averaging 6.8 minutes, 3.1 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. But with the Timberwolves locked into the sixth seed and resting starters again Friday against Houston, Beringer’s role has grown at exactly the point when Minnesota can afford to see what it has.
The weight behind those minutes is easy to see in his split production. Beringer averaged 15.3 points and 11.3 rebounds in eight G League regular-season appearances with the Iowa Wolves, a sign of how much more responsibility he has carried there than in the NBA. In the league, his rookie minutes have mostly come in garbage time, though he has flashed brilliance and had teaching moments along the way.
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That has made the late-season stretch more than a cleanup job for Minnesota. Beringer has had the chance to learn behind Gobert, the veteran center whose absence opened the door Wednesday and Friday for the young French big man to play a bigger role. What comes next is straightforward: with the standings settled, Beringer’s minutes are likely to keep telling the team whether his growth is ready to move from promise to something more useful next season.
