Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Jake Layman
See More
Layman saw sporadic minutes with the Wolves last season, appearing in 45 games and averaging 5.1 points and 1.5 rebounds in 13.9 minutes. He'll again be in contention for reserve forward minutes, but he's far from guaranteed an every-game role. As a result, he can be ignored in almost every redraft league.
Layman was a starter in all three preseason games and it looks like he has the lead in the position battle over Juancho Hernangomez for minutes at power forward. However, playing time at power forward will likely be in flux early in the season. After signing a three-year, $11.5 million sign-and-trade deal after spending his first three seasons with the Trail Blazers, Layman set career highs with 9.1 points and 2.5 rebounds in 22 minutes per game. However, it's not clear he'll get the same opportunity to expand on those career numbers in a reconfigured Minnesota lineup.
Layman joined the Timberwolves in a three-year, $11.5 million sign-and-trade deal after spending his first three seasons with the Trail Blazers. He averaged career highs in points (7.6) and rebounds (3.1) in 2018, playing 18.7 minutes off the bench on a loaded Portland team. He played more games in his third season (71) than he did in his first two years combined (70), notching 33 starts. Despite the expanded role, Layman was often a low-usage, inconsistent player and actually saw his production fall when in the starting lineup. However, he did have a few big games, and Layman averaged 19.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steal in the four games in which he saw at least 30 minutes. He could see more playing time with the Wolves in 2019-20, with a sixth-man ceiling if he can make a leap. Still, he's likely only worth drafting in deeper fantasy formats.
Layman logged 35 games for the second time in as many seasons during the 2017-18 campaign, but he actually saw a drop in his already minuscule playing time. The Maryland product tallied just 4.6 minutes per contest and was an overall non-factor. He’s shot under 30.0 percent during each of his first two pro seasons as well, and he remains buried on the power forward depth chart heading into training camp. Layman did see plenty of opportunity in Las Vegas Summer League play (23.1 minutes across seven games), and despite solid numbers – 13.4 points (on 57.0 percent shooting), 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals – he isn't guaranteed a spot on the final roster.
Selected with the 47th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Layman came into the 2016-17 campaign with low expectations. That made his relatively unsuccessful rookie season not much of a surprise, as the 23-year-old forward averaged just 2.2 points across 7.1 minutes. Looking ahead to the upcoming season, Layman is still buried on the depth chart. While the Trail Blazers traded away Allen Crabbe, guys like Evan Turner, Maurice Harkless and Al-Farouq Aminu should dominate the minutes at the two forward spots, limiting Layman's ability to see the court. He should see an increase in games played, but unless he displays a much-improved shot (29.2 percent from the field and 25.5 percent from the three-point line), Layman is unlikely to have much of a role in the team's regular rotation.