The Minnesota Timberwolves are slowly but surely improving their reputation as a franchise. Formerly a haven for nepotism, they now are being taken serious in conversations about their front office- and roster-building efforts.

So perhaps it should come as no surprise that a relative recent addition to the team had effusive praise for the franchise.

Following Saturday's loss to the Toronto Raptors, 24-year-old Nickeil Alexander-Walker says he feels ā€œblessed to be in this organization,ā€ per Sportsnet's Michael Grange.

ā€œI know what my role is and Iā€™m getting a chance to play through mistakes, help my team by making winning plays. The way the West is, every game matters and itā€™s a great chance to grow as a player and person.ā€

The remark about being allowed to play through his mistakes could be taken as a shot at the Utah Jazz, the team that decided to move him ahead of the Feb. 9 trade deadline. A team with a number of shooting guards vying for minutes, only veteran guards Mike Conley Jr. and Jordan Clarkson appeared to have the type of greenlight needed to let a player navigate himself through his mistakes.

Unfortunately for Alexander-Walker, that led to him averaging a career-low 14.7 minutes per game this season, prior to his trade to Minnesota. Still, the 17th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Alexander-Walker is currently averaging just 17.1 minutes per game for the Timberwolves.

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch, speaking on the addition of NAW, says that Minnesota has ā€œbeen very pleased with [him]. We like him a lot.ā€

ā€œOffensively heā€™s got a versatile game that we like. Defensively heā€™s really grown, as you would expectā€¦ā€