After the league makes way for an NBA Cup finale on Tuesday night, regular-season action will return in full on Wednesday night. Among the slate is a Western Conference clash between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies.
Again weighed down by Ja Morant’s inconsistent availability and play, the Grizzlies find themselves in a mess of teams hanging around the Western Conference play-in positions. While Morant’s future hangs over Memphis, its present is hurt further by sophomore big man Zach Edey’s continued foot injury woes.
The Wolves, meanwhile, are hanging on the fringe of the conference’s top six, despite a continued inability to finish close games. While trade rumors swirl around Minneapolis, the Wolves are set to be boosted by the return of all-world supernova Anthony Edwards, who missed the previous two contests with foot soreness.
With an NBA League Pass special on the slate this Wednesday in the Twin Cities, check out our Memphis Grizzlies vs. Minnesota Timberwolves predictions, including our NBA expert picks, with tip set for December 17 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Matchup Memphis Grizzlies vs Minnesota Timberwolves Overview
Teams: Memphis Grizzlies vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Target Center
Win Probabilities
The NBA win probabilities have been generated using insights from recent NBA games in combination with expert NBA picks and predictions. The Memphis Grizzlies have been given the short end of the stick with a 25% chance to win this NBA game. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves have a 75% chance according to the NBA win probabilities.
Projected Final Score
The projected final score anticipates a close game in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but for the Minnesota Timberwolves to prevail with a final score of Minnesota Timberwolves 120-113 Memphis Grizzlies.
Expert Prediction: Who Wins?
The former playoff opponents, the Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves, will meet for the first of four times on Wednesday.
For the Grizzlies, it has been yet another season of maddening inconsistency. It feels like a franchise clinging to an era that never quite panned out, due to untimely injuries and off-court drama at the feet of Ja Morant. Yet, while the Grizz ponder what comes next, they continue to hang around the top 10 in the Western Conference and the play-in appearance that would come with it.
Memphis has done this despite a woeful offense — what was supposedly supposed to be the strength of the team under head coach Tuomas Iisalo. While its offense lags, it has resurrected a once-proud defense thanks to long wings in Cedric Coward and Jaylen Wells, as well as one-time Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr.
While the Grizzlies can hang their hat on decent defense, the Timberwolves can be encouraged due to the classic hallmark of a good team. With both an offensive and defensive rating in the top 10, the Wolves hold the promise of contention after back-to-back conference final trips.
With a pair of teams easily drawn into chaos bound for collision on Wednesday, a fascinating game looms.
Why the Memphis Grizzlies Can Cover
With an adjusted defensive rating that ranks eighth in the league, and an offense that ranks in the bottom 10 by the same metric, the Memphis Grizzlies must perform at their best defensively to have a chance at hanging around against a vastly superior opponent.
With both Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle to contain — not to mention the emerging Jaden McDaniels and hot-shooting Donte DiVincenzo — it still may not be enough to keep pace. But it’s the Grizzlies’ starting point.
As far as containing Edwards goes, the Grizzlies do have a small sample size of a prior. Last January, in a two-point Grizzlies win, then-rookie Jaylen Wells face-guarded Edwards for four quarters. The hurried and harassed Edwards had one of his worst games of the season in nearly 40 minutes of play, finishing with 15 points and six turnovers on 30% shooting from the floor.
Memphis’s first step should be again deploying Wells onto Edwards, in the hopes the weight of victory falls onto Randle’s shoulders. Though Randle and the Wolves’ offense as a whole has come a long way since last January, it can at least open up a narrow pathway for the Grizzlies to cover in Minnesota.
Why the Minnesota Timberwolves Can Cover
Though he had to leave Sunday’s game early due to the birth of his child, Rudy Gobert has rounded into form at the right time. Last Friday saw the four-time Defensive Player of the Year’s most dominant game of the season, in which Gobert scored 24 points, pulled down 14 rebounds, and had a season-high eight dunks.
Much like in last year’s playoff series against the L.A. Lakers and then Golden State Warriors, Gobert has proven he can be a singularly dominant force against teams unequipped to defend his size inside. With Zach Edey again sidelined with a foot injury, these Grizzlies are woefully ill-equipped to defend Gobert.
Already, with Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle flanked by a quality rotation, Memphis was set to be overmatched and outgunned against the Wolves. But, with the added complexity of slowing Gobert’s forceful play inside, the Grizzlies face a brutal challenge of keeping things close on the road.
If the Timberwolves find Gobert early and often, empowering him to be the best version of his two-way dominant self in this matchup, the Wolves should cruise.
Current Memphis Grizzlies vs. Minnesota Timberwolves Odds
| Team | Moneyline | Spread | Total |
| Memphis Grizzlies | +210 | -125 | -120 |
| Minnesota Timberwolves | -300 | -112 | -120 |
How to Make Memphis Grizzlies vs. Minnesota Timberwolves Picks
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