As the Minnesota Timberwolves have started to step out of the NBA shadows under which they have lived for so long, the light they are bathing in brings with it more attention and scrutiny from a national perspective.
They are not used to being at the center of the larger conversation, but they are there because their play has demanded it. Many of the discussions surrounding this team’s surprising success have come with a rather large caveat.
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Yes, the point goes, the Timberwolves are off to a terrific start and have the look of a legitimate contender in the Western Conference. But … look at their financials. There is no way they can afford to keep this team together for the long haul.
Wow, this Wolves roster looks to be loaded with talent, and their size could make them a tough matchup to many of the teams they could face in the playoffs. But … they need to trade Karl-Anthony Towns to make room for Anthony Edwards and avoid the dreaded second apron.
Make no mistake: These talking points have merit. There will come a time when ownership has to make a decision about paying a hefty tax bill to keep this core together. But it is hard to blame Wolves fans — who are so used to their team being the butt of jokes and the object of ridicule when leaguewide eyes turn in their direction — if they feel their long-sought-after success seems to be accompanied by a splash of cold water in some corners.
So a bit of advice for fans as they gather for Thanksgiving and after their Timberwolves improved to 11-3 on the season and 7-0 at home with a 112-99 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. You have waited a long, long time for a team like this, one that is loaded with talent and plays with the kind of grit that commands respect. There will be plenty of time to bite your nails and worry about what is going to happen in 2024 or ’25. But don’t be afraid to enjoy a team that is coming together right before your eyes.
The Timberwolves are off to their best start in franchise history. That’s right, even better than the 2003-04 squad, the only team that has ever accomplished anything of note in the team’s 35 years in the league. The Wolves walk into the arena most nights with a talent surplus in comparison to their opponents. They don’t just beat teams at home, they dismantle them — the Boston Celtics are the only team that has not faced a deficit of at least 21 points at Target Center — in front of a rowdy crowd that is giving standing ovations in appreciation of the energy and effort. Minnesota carries itself with the swagger of a team that expects to win.
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That is exactly what happened Wednesday night against the 76ers, who have been one of the best teams in the league all season. Philly was coming off an overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night and left reigning MVP Joel Embiid at home after he played 41 minutes. That used to be a recipe for a letdown in these parts. Not this season. The Wolves delivered perhaps their best first quarter of the season against the tired Sixers, outscoring them 37-20. Philadelphia got close for a moment in the second quarter, but Minnesota turned back the charge and never trailed.
“We ain’t coming out here to play around,” Edwards said after putting up 31 points, six rebounds and six assists. “Let’s come out here, 48 minutes, play hard — hard as we can — and do what the coaches say. And if we come up short, we come up short. But I think we’ve been doing pretty good.”
The Wolves held the Sixers to 39 percent shooting, the seventh time this season their opponent has shot 40 percent or worse. Star perimeter defender Jaden McDaniels is out for two to three weeks with a sprained ankle, but Nickeil Alexander-Walker stepped in and held the explosive Tyrese Maxey to 16 points on 7-of-19 shooting.
Towns had 23 points, 11 rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Rudy Gobert had 13 points, 11 boards and three blocks, and Naz Reid added 13 points and three steals off the bench.
AIR 32. 😼😼😼 pic.twitter.com/W0wdAo3Vwi
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 23, 2023
Reid is in his fifth season, one of the longest-tenured players on the team. He has lived through the trials and tribulations the team and its fans have experienced. He knows when a team doesn’t have it, when the losses will keep coming and coming because they don’t have the talent or the coaching or the leadership or the experience to figure out how to stop them. It also is why he can appreciate more than most the feeling that has arrived this season, of a team free of distractions that is figuring out what it takes to win.
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Yes, the Wolves’ salary-cap sheet is full of big-money deals. Towns, Edwards and Gobert have max contracts; Reid signed a three-year, $42 million deal this summer; and McDaniels got a five-year, $136 million deal. But there is a flip side to that coin. That means all of the team’s most important players have been taken care of, from a financial perspective. The only players on expiring deals are Mike Conley and Kyle Anderson, two of the most mature players on the team who won’t let that cloud their purpose.
“Everybody’s here to win. Everybody has one goal. Everybody’s got their money situation out of the way,” Reid said. “Now we’re here to play basketball and win the game. We’re not really too much worried about anything other than that.”
The Timberwolves have had a lot of luck in the early going. They played the Miami Heat on the second night of a back-to-back without Jimmy Butler and the New Orleans Pelicans without Zion Williamson (twice), and they caught the Golden State Warriors on the second night of a back-to-back in their first win in the Bay Area. Then they watched the Cavs take the Sixers to overtime in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, forcing coach Nick Nurse to play Maxey 47 minutes, Tobias Harris 43 minutes, De’Anthony Melton 41 minutes and Embiid 41 minutes.
The Sixers certainly looked gassed for much of the game, much like the Timberwolves did in a 133-115 loss to the Phoenix Suns the night after their emotional win over Golden State. The Wolves don’t make the schedule, and they also can’t help it if certain players would rather not play in Minnesota. All they can do is play the teams and the players in front of them, and they controlled the game against Philadelphia from the opening tip.
Coach Chris Finch said he has enjoyed watching this team talk through games together, identify what is going wrong and address it among themselves. A team that too often took opponents lightly and disrespected the game last season is playing with focus and purpose nightly.
“I think it’s very much a serious tone,” Finch said. “There’s a conversation about what needs to be done, what they hadn’t done.”
It has been such a long time since a Wolves team came along with a gleam in its eye the way this team has, so try to embrace it. If you are a Wolves fan, you have seen almost as many 60-loss seasons in team history (nine) as you have playoff berths (11). They have made it out of the first round once. The NBA lottery drawing is practically a statewide holiday for Wolves fans.
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Now you have an emerging superstar in Edwards, a rejuvenated defensive stalwart in Gobert, a dialed-in All-Star in Towns, an NBA Sixth Man of the Year candidate in Reid and a budding two-way dynamo in McDaniels. The vibes are off the charts; the chemistry is palpable.
Who knows what the future holds? Maybe this roster will be too expensive to keep together. Maybe this is just a hot streak and the team will fall back to the pack. Maybe things will be different in the playoffs. Those are concerns for much further down the road. And the Wolves have a smart front office, a quality coaching staff and a promising young core that seems built to navigate those obstacles.
Or maybe, just maybe, this is the Timberwolves team you’ve been waiting your whole life for. Maybe they have assembled a giant, prideful team that can sustain the success and reach heights unknown to this franchise. Maybe that would open financial doors in this market that were never believed to be possible.
Right now, this is fun. Right now, this is tantalizing. Right now, the Minnesota Timberwolves are a force to be reckoned with.
Revel in it, Wolves fans, for however long it lasts.
(Photo of Anthony Edwards: Brad Rempel / USA Today)
