Minnesota Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves are a professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). more...

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Home arenas

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (1989-1990)

Target Center (1990-present)

Franchise history

Early Ineptitude

The Timberwolves made their debut on November 3, 1989 losing to the Seattle Super Sonics on the road 106-94. Five days later they would make their home debut at the Metrodome losing to the Chicago Bulls 96-84. Just two nights later the Wolves would get their first win, beating the Philadelphia 76ers at home 125-118 on November 10th. The Timberwolves, led by Tony Campbell with 23.2 ppg, went on to a 22-60 record, finishing in 6th place in the Midwest Division. Playing in the cavernous Metrodome, the expansion Timberwolves drew over 1 million fans including the 3rd largest crowd in NBA history at 49,551 on April 17, 1990 that saw the Timberwolves lose to the Denver Nuggets 99-88 in the final home game of the season.

The next season the team moved into the Target Center and won 29 games. They fired their head coach Bill Musselman. Over the next several years, the franchise encountered mediocrity and even a near relocation in 1994 before NBA owners rejected the team's move to New Orleans. Glen Taylor bought the team and named Kevin McHale general manager.

Building a Contender

In 1995, the Timberwolves selected Kevin Garnett in the draft, and Flip Saunders became coach. Christian Laettner was traded along with Sean Rooks to the Atlanta Hawks for Andrew Lang and Spud Webb. Also, first round pick Donyell Marshall was traded the previous season for Golden State Warriors' forward Tom Gugliotta, who was earlier traded himself from Washington for Chris Webber. These trades paved the way for rookie Kevin Garnett to become the go-to player inside. Garnett went on to average 10.4 ppg in his rookie season as the T-Wolves finished in 5th place in the Midwest Division, with a 26-56 record.

In 1996, the T-Wolves added another star player in the draft, swapping Ray Allen to the Milwaukee Bucks for the rights to Stephon Marbury, the 4th overall pick. The addition of Marbury had a positive effect on the entire team, as Kevin Garnett and Tom Gugliotta became the first Wolves to be selected to the All-Star team. Gugliotta and Garnett led the Timberwolves in scoring as the team made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history with a record of 40-42. However, in the playoffs the Timberwolves made a quick exit as they were swept by the Houston Rockets in 3 straight games. The T-Wolves also decided to change their image by changing their team logo and colors, adding black to the team colors and replacing the original logo with a logo featuring a snarling wolf looming over a field of trees. While at the time the new logo was roundly criticized in the Twin Cities sports media, its appearance accompanied a much improved product on the court, so criticism was relatively short-lived.

Read more at Wikipedia.org