The Minnesota Timberwolves (also commonly referred to as the T-Wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1989, the team is currently owned by Glen Taylor. The Timberwolves played their home games in the Metrodome during its inaugural season, before moving to the Target Center in 1990.
Like most expansion teams, the Timberwolves struggled in their early years; but after the acquisition of Kevin Garnett in the 1995 NBA Draft, the team made the playoffs eight consecutive times from 1997 to 2004. Despite losing in the first round in their first seven attempts, the Timberwolves won their first division title in 2004 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals. Garnett was also named the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for that season. The team has been in rebuilding mode since trading Garnett to the Boston Celtics in 2007.

2010–present: Kevin Love era begins
On July 12, 2010, Minnesota traded for Miami Heat forward Michael Beasley, the second pick from the 2008 NBA Draft.[7] In a locally untelevised game on November 12, 2010, Kevin Love grabbed an astounding franchise-record 31 rebounds and scored 31 points, the NBA's first 30–30 game in 28 years.[8]
Love was later named an All Star for the 2010–2011 NBA season, the franchise's first All Star selection since Kevin Garnett in 2007. Love would later break Garnett's team record of 37 straight double-doubles on February 8, 2011 in a win over the Houston Rockets. On March 8, 2011, Love acquired his 52nd straight double-double, surpassing the mark of Moses Malone for the most consecutive double-doubles since the NBA/ABA merger in a win over the Indiana Pacers. The streak eventually reached 53 games and came to an end with a six-point, 12-rebound performance in a 100-77 loss to the Golden State Warriors on March 13. In October, 2011, Love was ranked 16th among active players by ESPN.

On February 21, 2011, Corey Brewer and Kosta Koufos were traded to the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets respectively for Knicks Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry (plus $3 million in cash from New York and a 2015 second-round draft pick from Denver) as part of a larger trade that sent all-star Carmelo Anthony from Denver to New York.[9]

On the downside, with a 121–102 loss to the Houston Rockets, the Timberwolves fell to 17–65, finishing last in the Western Conference for the second straight year. They also clinched the 2010-11 NBA season's worst record. During the offseason, the Timberwolves were finally able to bring 2009 fifth overall pick Ricky Rubio over from Spain. In the 2011 NBA Draft, with the second overall pick, the Timberwolves selected Derrick Williams out of Arizona and The Minnesota Timberwolves traded guard Jonny Flynn and the draft rights to Donatas Motiejunas (No. 20) to the Houston Rockets for center Brad Miller, the draft rights to Nikola Mirotic (No. 23), Chandler Parsons (No. 38) and a future first-round pick. The Timberwolves traded Mirotic’s rights to the Chicago Bulls for the rights to Norris Cole (No. 28) and Malcolm Lee (No. 43). The Timberwolves then sold the rights to Parsons back to the Rockets. The Timberwolves traded Norris Cole (No. 28) to the Miami Heat for the draft rights to Bojan Bogdanovic (No. 31), a future second-round pick and cash considerations then later Bogdanovic traded to New Jersey Nets For a future second-round and cash. The Trail Blazers traded the draft rights to Tanguy Ngombo to the Timberwolves.

On July 12, 2011, Kurt Rambis was fired as coach of the team after compiling a 32–132 record in two seasons with the team. On September 13, 2011, the team announced that they had hired Rick Adelman to be the team's new head coach.[10][11]




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