Jaden McDaniels had an inefficient performance for the Minnesota Timberwolves in their 97-126 loss against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of their Western semifinals series. The defense maestro finished the game with 17 points, six rebounds and two assists while shooting 6-13 from the field (46.2 FG%) and 3-7 from beyond the arc (42.9 3P%) but had five fouls, three of which came in the first half itself.
Near the end of the game, when the Spurs had blown them out, Jaden McDaniels was sent to the bench. The Timberwolves were down by 20 points midway through the fourth quarter when the NBC broadcast caught him throwing a towel in frustration at a Timberwolves staff member, and subsequently stare into space as though in anger on the bench.
Jaden McDaniels reacts to getting benched in the 4th quarter.
Yikes 😬 pic.twitter.com/wBPVWgRFue
— SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) May 13, 2026
NBA fans saw this incident on social media as it went viral after the Timberwolves were imminently facing elimination at that point. Some trolled him for not stepping up for the team, while others also empathized with his natural reaction.
“Bru so angry he double pump faked that towel.”
“Grown a– adult can’t regulate his emotions.”
“Absolutely nothing wrong with this. Jaden and company should be pissed after that performance.”
“This is normal we all hate losing I don’t see anything wrong here.”
“I can’t tell if Jaden McDaniels is gonna have a revenge game for Game 6, or quit on his team.”
Various such reactions flooded social media as clearly McDaniels was unhappy about his performance tonight and even in the postgame press conference, Anthony Edwards, like he said earlier in the playoffs as well, highlighted how crucial Jaden McDaniels is to their game plans every night.
“I think everything starts with Jaden McDaniels, trying to keep him out of foul trouble. Because he’s so important to the team. He’s so important to us. It hurts everybody when he gets in foul trouble,” said Edwards.
“And some tough calls being made out there against a man. So, it’s not too much we can say, but yeah, we just we try to avoid him getting in foul trouble. And if we can do that, we give ourselves a great chance to win the ball game.”
The Timberwolves are now headed home for Game 6 and are on the brink of elimination if they don’t bounce back and force a Game 7.
Emotions coming to surface is natural at this crucial stage in the series but McDaniels needs to bring his A game on defense to shut down the barrage from players like De’Aaron Fox (18 points), Keldon Johnson (21 points) or Devin Vassell (12 points) that burned them tonight in Game 5. It will be interesting to see how McDaniels and the Timberwolves respond to adversity in Game 6 on Friday, May 15.
