Minnesota Timberwolves

• 1. Introduction

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  The Minnesota Timberwolves got their name from a vote, and it was not even close. The franchise held a naming contest in December 1986 and narrowed the field to two finalists: Timberwolves and Polars. The NBA asked the 842 city councils across Minnesota to make the final call. Timberwolves won by nearly 2-1. The name was made official on the 23rd of January 1987. On the 22nd of April of that year, the NBA formally granted the expansion franchise to original owners Harvey Ratner and Marv Wolfenson. The Timberwolves would join the league alongside the Orlando Magic, Charlotte Hornets, and Miami Heat, beginning play in the 1989-90 season. The name fit the land. Minnesota holds the largest population of timberwolves in the contiguous 48 states.

  The debut came on the 3rd of November 1989, a 106-94 road loss to the Seattle SuperSonics. Five days later, the home opener at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome ended 96-84 in favor of the Chicago Bulls. Two nights after that, on the 10th of November, the Wolves beat the Philadelphia 76ers 125-118 for their first win. The first full season ended at 22-60, sixth in the Midwest Division. The losing did nothing to thin the crowds. The Timberwolves set an NBA record for home attendance that first year, drawing over one million fans. A crowd of 49,551 came out on the 17th of April 1990 for the final home game of the season. The Wolves lost to the Denver Nuggets 99-88. They came out anyway.

  The early years at Target Center, which became the team's permanent home in 1990, brought no improvement. A 15-67 record in 1991-92 was the worst in the NBA that year. Ratner and Wolfenson came close to selling the franchise to New Orleans interests in 1994, but NBA owners rejected the move. Glen Taylor bought the team and named Kevin McHale as general manager. The Wolves finished 21-61 in Taylor's first season. The 1995 NBA draft was still months away.

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• 2. A Star From High School

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  Target Center hosted the 1994 NBA All-Star Game, giving the struggling franchise a brief moment in the spotlight. First-round pick Isaiah Rider won the Slam Dunk Contest with a between-the-legs move he called the East Bay Funk Dunk. The team itself still finished 20-62 that season.

  Kevin Garnett, taken 5th overall in the 1995 NBA draft directly out of high school, averaged 10.4 points per game in his rookie season. Flip Saunders was named head coach that same summer. Christian Laettner was traded to the Atlanta Hawks along with Sean Rooks, clearing the path for Garnett to take on a primary role.

  In 1996, the Timberwolves traded Ray Allen's draft rights to the Milwaukee Bucks for those of Stephon Marbury, the 4th overall pick. The team climbed to 40-42 and reached the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Garnett and Tom Gugliotta became the first Wolves players selected to the NBA All-Star Game. The Houston Rockets swept Minnesota in three games in the first round, but the postseason drought was over.

  Garnett averaged 18.5 points and 9.6 rebounds per game the following season. Marbury contributed 17.7 points and 8.6 assists. The Wolves finished 45-37, their first winning record. They won their first playoff game in Seattle, 98-93 in Game 2, before losing the series in five games. In 1998, Garnett signed a six-year, $126 million contract extension. The NBA held up the deal as a symbol of financial overreach during the four-month lockout that consumed much of that season.

  Marbury eventually forced a mid-season trade to the New Jersey Nets. The return package included a first-round pick that became the 6th selection in the 1999 draft. That pick was used on Wally Szczerbiak, who averaged 11.6 points per game as a rookie. The team qualified for the playoffs again and fell to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in the first round. The following season brought a 50-32 record, with Garnett averaging 22.9 points and 11.8 rebounds per game.

  Guard Malik Sealy was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver in the summer of 2000. His number 2 jersey has remained the only number retired by the franchise. The NBA also voided a free-agent contract the team had signed with Joe Smith. Five first-round draft picks were stripped from the franchise, later reduced to three covering 2001, 2002, and 2004. The league fined the Timberwolves $3.5 million and suspended general manager Kevin McHale for one year. Despite those penalties, Minnesota qualified for the playoffs for the fifth consecutive time the following season, going 47-35 before losing again to the Spurs in the first round.

  Seven straight first-round exits were beginning to feel like a ceiling. Before the 2003-04 season, McHale made a series of trades designed to change that.

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• 3. Conference Finals Bound

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  Sam Cassell came to Minnesota in a trade that also brought Latrell Sprewell and Ervin Johnson. McHale sent Joe Smith and Terrell Brandon in the other direction. Fred Hoiberg and former first overall pick Michael Olowokandi signed as free agents. Trenton Hassell, Troy Hudson, and Mark Madsen rounded out the bench.

  The 2003-04 Timberwolves finished 58-24, the top seed in the Western Conference. Garnett averaged 24.2 points, 13.9 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game and was named the NBA Most Valuable Player. Both Garnett and Cassell made the All-Star team. Garnett earned a first-team All-NBA selection.

  The first round brought a series win over the Denver Nuggets. Then came seven games against the Sacramento Kings. When Garnett secured the Game 7 victory, he leapt onto the scorer's table. The image became one of the most recognized in Minnesota sports history. Sam Cassell hurt his groin during that game while performing his big balls dance after hitting the series-clinching basket. The injury left him limited for the rest of the postseason.

  The Western Conference finals ended in a 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Both Flip Saunders and Phil Jackson later said a healthy Cassell might have changed the result. The following season the Wolves went 44-38 and missed the playoffs by one game to the Memphis Grizzlies. Saunders was replaced mid-season by McHale. A run of eight straight playoff appearances was over. A rebuilding era was beginning, and it would stretch far longer than anyone anticipated.

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• 4. Fourteen Lost Years

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  On the 31st of July 2007, the Timberwolves traded Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics. Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes, two first-round draft picks, and cash came in return. The organization called it the largest combination of players and picks ever traded for a single player in NBA history. Garnett and the Celtics won the 2008 NBA Finals.

  A 2008 draft-night trade sent the third overall pick, O.J. Mayo, to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Kevin Love, the fifth overall pick, and additional players. On the 12th of November 2010, Love scored 31 points and grabbed 31 rebounds in a win over the New York Knicks. It was the NBA's first 30-30 game in 28 years.

  Love then broke Kevin Garnett's team record of 37 straight double-doubles on the 8th of February 2011. By the 8th of March of that season, he had surpassed Moses Malone's record for most consecutive double-doubles since the NBA-ABA merger. The streak reached 53 games before ending on the 13th of March against the Golden State Warriors, with a 6-point, 12-rebound performance. Kurt Rambis, hired in August 2009 on a four-year, $8 million contract, compiled a 32-132 record in two seasons before being fired in July 2011.

  On the 23rd of August 2014, a three-team trade sent Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, and Thaddeus Young came to Minnesota in return. Wiggins won the NBA Rookie of the Year award, the first player in franchise history to earn that honor. His teammate Zach LaVine won the Slam Dunk Contest the same season.

  Flip Saunders returned as head coach in June 2014 for a second stint with the organization. During his tenure, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. He died on the 25th of October 2015, at age 60. The team wore a patch reading FLIP on their uniforms throughout the 2015-16 season. His name was retired by the franchise on the 15th of February 2018.

  The playoff drought ended in the 2017-18 season. A trade brought Jimmy Butler to Minnesota in exchange for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and the 7th overall pick. The Wolves finished 47-35 and secured a playoff berth on the final day of the regular season. A 112-106 win over the Denver Nuggets clinched the spot. Houston eliminated them in five games in the first round. Butler was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers the following season. On the 6th of February 2020, Andrew Wiggins was sent to the Golden State Warriors for D'Angelo Russell. At the end of that season, Minnesota held the first pick in the 2020 NBA draft.

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• 5. The Edwards Generation

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  Anthony Edwards, selected with that pick out of Georgia in the 2020 NBA draft, became the franchise's new cornerstone. Chris Finch was hired from the Toronto Raptors coaching staff in February 2021 to replace the fired Ryan Saunders. Together, they have led the Timberwolves to four consecutive playoff appearances.

  The summer of 2022 brought Rudy Gobert to Minnesota from the Utah Jazz. The trade cost seven assets, including four future first-round draft picks. Gobert anchored a defense that ranked first in the NBA during the 2023-24 season. The Timberwolves won 56 games and earned the third seed in the Western Conference. Gobert claimed his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award. Naz Reid won Sixth Man of the Year. Karl-Anthony Towns made his fourth All-Star appearance. Edwards earned his first All-NBA selection.

  In the first round of the 2024 playoffs, Minnesota swept the Phoenix Suns 4-0. It was the first series sweep in Minnesota men's professional sports history. Edwards recorded a 30-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist statline in multiple playoff games, becoming only the second player under 22 to accomplish that. Comparisons to a young Michael Jordan followed, including from Jordan himself. In the conference semifinals, the Wolves trailed the Denver Nuggets by 15 points at halftime of Game 7 before winning 98-90. The comeback came 20 years to the day of the franchise's 2004 conference finals appearance. Dallas ended their run in five games.

  The following off-season sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks in exchange for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a first-round pick. Randle averaged 18.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists across his first 48 games in Minnesota. On the 25th of January 2025, Edwards surpassed Karl-Anthony Towns as the franchise's all-time leader in made three-pointers. His 976th career three-pointer came during a 133-104 win over the Denver Nuggets, a game he finished with 34 points. On the 23rd of October 2024, Rudy Gobert had signed a three-year, $110 million contract extension, locking in the anchor of Minnesota's defense for years to come.

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• 6. A Franchise Sold

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  In April 2021, longtime owner Glen Taylor agreed to sell the Timberwolves and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx to Marc Lore and former MLB star Alex Rodriguez. The deal valued the franchises at $1.5 billion. Lore and Rodriguez purchased 20% of the organization in July 2021 and another 20% in 2022. The deal then stalled when the Carlyle Group, which had pledged $300 million toward the final payment installment, withdrew its backing. On the 28th of March 2024, Taylor announced the sale had fallen through. Lore and Rodriguez disputed the outcome, arguing they had filed the paperwork for an extension before the March 27 deadline.

  The parties met to mediate on the 1st of May 2024 and reached no agreement. Michael Bloomberg joined the Rodriguez and Lore group on the 6th of June 2024. In February 2025, an arbitration panel ruled in Lore and Rodriguez's favor. Taylor announced on the 2nd of April 2025 that he would not appeal the decision. In June 2025, the NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the completed sale. Rodriguez, Lore, and a consortium of limited partners finalized the purchase of the franchise.

  Kevin Garnett's number 21 jersey is scheduled to be retired during the 2026-27 season.

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